England squad struck down by illness ahead of first Test against Pakistan
Rawalpindi, November 30: On the eve of their first Test in Pakistan, England is in disarray after 13 to 14 staff members, including half of the 16-man playing squad, fell ill on Wednesday.
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As reported by Espncricinfo an ECB spokesperson confirmed that the illnesses were not Covid-19 related. There is a chance the virus will go away in a day, but since the first of the three matches in the series starts on Thursday in Rawalpindi, England's chances of getting off to a good start have been significantly diminished.
Only Root, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Harry Brook, and Keaton Jennings participated in the Wednesday training session at the venue, which was optional prior to the bug's spread. The other players listed in the starting XI were absent. With Liam Livingstone making his debut and Ben Duckett making a comeback, Stokes' team from Tuesday may now look very different.
The outbreak has taken place at the Serena Hotel in Islamabad, where both teams England and Pakistan have been staying. This is not the first time that England has been ill at the beginning of a tour. A similar bug affected the team prior to and during their Boxing Day Test in Pretoria on the 2019-20 South African tour.
Rawalpindi will host the first Test (1-5 December) before the action moves to Karachi (9-13 December) and Multan (17-21 December) for the subsequent games.
England XI v Pakistan: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Ben Foakes (w), Liam Livingstone, Jack Leach, Ollie Robinson and Jimmy Anderson.
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- PTC NEWS