Buttler-led England land in Karachi for a T20 series after 16 years

By our correspondent

KARACHI: And eventually England cricket team arrived here on Thursday to play a seven-match T20 series against Pakistan which will begin with the opener here at the National Stadium on September 20.

Led by hard-hitting batsman Jos Buttler, England team landed here at 11am at the Jinnah International Airport. They came via Emirates Airlines. A thick security arrangement had been made for escorting the touring party to the hotel through bulletproof vehicles.

Large number of security forces were seen on Shahra-e-Faisal right to the hotel. The traffic had been stopped in order to ensure the English team does not face any issue.

This is after long 16 years that England team has toured Pakistan. Last time in 2005 England had come to Pakistan for a full-fledged series held in November-December.

Last year England had refused to tour Pakistan citing mental well-being of its players days after New Zealand had abandoned Pakistan tour due to security reasons.

England will practice on Friday evening (today) here at the National Stadium which is ready to host all-important series which is a sort of preparation for the T20 World Cup which will be held in Australia in October-November.

England squad also carries five uncapped players and misses some of its finest players due to injuries. However still it is a competitive side and English captain Jose Buttler also hoped that it would be a great series.

Buttler told a news conference here on Thursday that both sides have a plenty of match winners and it would be a great series.

Both nations will face each other in their opener on September 20. It will be followed by the match on September 22, 23 and 25.

And then both sides will move to Lahore to take on each other in the rest of the matches to be held on September 28, 30 and October 2.

Meanwhile Pakistan squad for the series was also announced on Thursday and the lot would assemble here on Friday to begin its training here at the National Stadium in the evening.

The matches will begin at 7:30pm.

England squad:

Jos Buttler (Lancashire) Captain
Moeen Ali (Worcestershire) Vice-Captain
Harry Brook (Yorkshire)
Jordan Cox (Kent)
Sam Curran (Surrey)
Ben Duckett (Nottinghamshire)
Liam Dawson (Hampshire)
Richard Gleeson (Lancashire)
Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire)
Tom Helm (Middlesex)
Will Jacks (Surrey)
Dawid Malan (Yorkshire)
Adil Rashid (Yorkshire)
Phil Salt (Lancashire)
Olly Stone (Warwickshire)
Reece Topley (Surrey)
David Willey (Yorkshire)
Chris Woakes (Warwickshire)
Luke Wood (Lancashire)
Mark Wood (Durham)