Pakistan to tour England in May 2024 in preparation for Men's T20 World Cup

Lahore, July 4 (IANS) Pakistan men's team will tour England to play a four-match T20I series in May next year in the build-up to the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 in the West Indies and the United States of America (USA), the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) confirmed on Tuesday.

The finalists from the last edition in Australia will play games in Leeds (May 22), Birmingham (May 25), Cardiff (May 28) and London (Oval, May 30) before flying out for the marquee ICC event.

Notably, England had defeated Pakistan by five wickets with one over to spare in the T20 World Cup 2022 final in Melbourne. Prior to the Australia event, Pakistan had hosted England for a seven-match T20I series in Karachi and Lahore with the visitors winning by 4-3.

England is ranked second on the ICC T20I Team Rankings, while Pakistan is ranked fourth – five points behind.
 
Before arriving in England, Pakistan will play a three-T20I series against the Netherlands and two-T20I series against Ireland, details of which will be announced in due course.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said on Tuesday that besides the men’s squad, the national women’s team will also tour England in May next year for three T20Is and three ICC Women’s Championship 2022-25 fixtures.

In addition to the men's side, Pakistan women’s squad will also tour England in May 2024 for three T20Is and three ICC Women’s Championship 2022-25 fixtures, the PCB said.
 
The tour will begin with the first T20I in Birmingham on May 11 with the remaining two matches in Northampton ( May 17) and Leeds (May 19). Derby, Taunton and Chelmsford will stage the three ODIs on May 23, 26 and 29 respectively.
 
England is ranked second and Pakistan seventh in the ICC Women’s T20I Team Rankings, while Pakistan (10 points) is currently third in the ICC Women’s Championship 2022-25 and England seventh (six points) with one less series of three ODIs. England's third series in the Championship is against Australia from July 12-18.
 
The series against England will be Pakistan women’s last series in the ICC Women's Championship 2022-25. They will kick-start their 2023-24 season by hosting South Africa in Karachi from September 1-14, which will be followed by series against Bangladesh (October/November, away), New Zealand (November/December, away) and West Indies (April/May, home).
 
In the three ICC Women's Championship 2022-25 series to date, Pakistan have defeated Sri Lanka (2-1) and Ireland (3-0), while they were beaten 3-0 by world champions Australia earlier this year.