Cricket
Cricket: England's tour of Pakistan in doubts, following New Zealand's decision
ECB has said that it is assessing the ground situation in Pakistan and will make a decision on the scheduled series in the next 48 hours
England cricket ODI team
Hours after New Zealand cancelled its cricket tour of Pakistan, England's scheduled tour to the Asian nation was thrown into doubt with the ECB saying that it will assess the ground situation in the strife-torn country and make a decision on the series in the next 48 hours.
New Zealand decided to pull its team out of Pakistan just ahead of the first ODI after its cricket board received a security threat. England is scheduled to travel to Rawalpindi in October for two Twenty20 Internationals, in what will be their first visit to Pakistan since 2005.
"We're aware of New Zealand's decision to pull out of the Pakistan tour due to a security alert. We are liaising with our security team who are on the ground in Pakistan to fully understand the situation," the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said in a statement.
"The ECB Board will then decide in the next 24-48 hours whether our planned tour should proceed," the statement read further.
The cancellation of the New Zealand tour is a big setback to the revival of international cricket in Pakistan. Although some international cricket and Pakistan Super League (PSL) matches have been held in the country major Test nations are yet to travel to Pakistan for full-fledged tours.
West Indies are scheduled to travel to Pakistan later this year. Australia is also due to tour Pakistan early next year.
