Leicester, (Asian independent) England women team captain Heather Knight has said the team had no say in the decision to pull out of the upcoming tour of Pakistan and it was a decision taken by the country’s cricket board.
“It’s out of our hands, one of those things I don’t want to comment on too much. We were told and that’s the end of that,” Heather said during toss for the third ODI against New Zealand at Grace Road.
The England and Wales Cricket Board on Monday decided to pull out of the upcoming white-ball tour of Pakistan by its men and women’s teams citing security concerns as the reason.
“The ECB has a longstanding commitment to touring Pakistan as part of the Men’s Future Tours Programme in 2022. Earlier this year, we agreed to play two additional T20 World Cup warm-up games in Pakistan in October, adding a short women’s tour with double headers alongside the men’s games. The ECB Board convened this weekend to discuss these extra England Women’s and Men’s games in Pakistan and we can confirm that the Board has reluctantly decided to withdraw both teams from the October trip,” read the ECB statement posted on their website.
England women were to play two T20Is and three ODIs during the scheduled tour in October.
Missing the opportunity to tour Pakistan for the first time seems to have had an impact on England women as they were bowled out by New Zealand for 178 in 48.3 overs on Tuesday. Skipper Heather made 6 runs in the match.
