First Test against Pakistan could be postponed as England affected by virus

A number of the England Cricket team have been hit with illness. Credit: PA

England’s first Test in Pakistan for 17 years could be postponed by 24 hours after a number of the travelling players and staff were struck down by illness two days before the match.

Around 13 to 14 members of the touring party are affected by the illness, with around half of that number being members of the playing squad.

Ben Stokes is among those affected, and it is believed to be a bug or virus rather than Covid.

England have made their their final training session ahead of the Test match on Wednesday morning optional.

Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Keaton Jennings, Ollie Pope and Joe Root reported for the practice session at the stadium in Rawalpindi – taken by head coach Brendon McCullum – with the rest remaining at their Islamabad base.

England recently beat Pakistan in the T20 World Cup. Credit: PA

Discussions have taken place between the relevant governing bodies over the issue, with the match starting a day late being considered as a worst-case scenario contingency plan.

If the game had been planned to take place on Wednesday, due to the limited number of players fit, it would have had to be postponed by 24 hours.

Joe Root addressed the media in place of captain Ben Stokes, who was among those to have contracted the illness, but the former captain remained upbeat over the chances of the game going ahead.

“As far as I’m aware, there are a few guys not feeling 100 per cent. I didn’t feel great yesterday but I woke up better today so hopefully it’s just a 24-hour virus and I don’t think it’s food poisoning or Covid or anything like that,” Root told a press conference in Rawalpindi.

“I think it’s just one of those things that we’ve unfortunately picked up as a group – we’ve tried to do absolutely everything.

"We’ve prepared really well for this game and sometimes life throws things at you but we’ll do everything we can to be right tomorrow and be right and ready to go.”

England's Joe Root. Credit: PA

Stokes had named his nominal starting XI for the match, including handing a debut to Liam Livingstone and a first Test recall since 2016 for Ben Duckett, but his plans could be forced to change due to the illness.

Livingstone has not played a red-ball match in 2022, but was part of England’s successful T20 World Cup campaign in Australia earlier this month.

Despite not representing Lancashire in the County Championship since September 2021 as he has been focusing on shorter-format cricket, Livingstone caught the attention of Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum for his eye-catching shots in white-ball cricket.

Meanwhile, Duckett has not played a Test since 2016 when he was handed a brutal baptism of fire at the hands of Indian spin bowler Ravichandran Ashwin.

But he amassed over 1,000 runs in last season’s County Championship Division Two at an average of 72.28.

Former captain Root is said to have experienced symptoms on Tuesday, but has since recovered and took part in training on Wednesday morning.

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