JAMES COYNE: Chief executive Tom Harrison, security advisor Reg Dickason and ECB board director Martin Darlow, a former policeman with a security and integrity brief, were part of a team alongside officials from Cricket Ireland [image: harrison111001]
James Coyne link | 11/10/2019 link at 14:21
ECB officials have visited Pakistan in an important step towards England restoring overseas tours of the country.
Chief executive Tom Harrison, security advisor Reg Dickason and ECB board director Martin Darlow, a former senior police detective now with a security and integrity brief, were part of a fact-finding mission alongside officials from Cricket Ireland to see the state of play during the Pakistan v Sri Lanka T20I series in Lahore, The Cricketer has reported.
England are not scheduled to play Pakistan away until late 2022, so there is some breathing space for the ECB until deciding if they can clear their players to go to Pakistan. If not, the series looks likely to place in the UAE again, as most of Pakistan's recent series have.
At the moment England are committed through the Future Tours Programme to play three Tests and five ODIs against Pakistan in late 2022, leading into the 2023 World Cup in India the following February.
The Pakistan Cricket Board have managed to persuade only Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka (twice) to play ODIs and T20Is on Pakistani soil since the 2009 Lahore attack on the Sri Lanka team bus. There was also a World XI visit in 2017/18, and the Pakistan Super League has flown players in from the UAE, including English players like Dawid Malan and Chris Jordan.
This time Sri Lanka played ODIs in Karachi and T20Is in Lahore, winning that series.