ISLAMABAD: British Acting High Commissioner, Andrew Dalgleish was optimistic on the long-awaited tour of the England cricket team to Pakistan and hoped that English cricketers would be very excited to come here.
“I hope they (England cricket team) will come and I’m confident that they will the very excited about going back to Pakistan,” he said in an exclusive talk with APP.
Andrew said we have got to sort-out the details about that (tour) but I’m remaining very optimistic. “Will they (England) beat the Pakistani team yes, but I’m not prepared to comment on it,” he said.
According to tentative details of the tour, it would be the first visit by England’s team here in 17 years. Both countries would likely play seven T20Is and three Test matches.
The T20Is were likely to be played in two venues Karachi and Lahore. The tentative schedule for two venues T20I series has four matches slated to be played in Karachi on September 20, 22, 23 and 25, while three matches in Lahore on September 28, 30 and October 2.
To a question about the Commonwealth Games 2022 being staged in Birmingham, he said he was delighted that England was hosting the Commonwealth Games 2022.
“I think we’ve got more than hundred people coming from Pakistan around 60 athletes competing in 12 different events, so good luck to them. It is great to see the women’s cricket for the first time in the Games.
“We know the Pakistan women’s team is a force to be reckoned with, so we’ll be following the event very closely,” he said.
It may be mentioned that held every four years, the Games have grown from featuring 11 countries and 400 athletes, to a global spectacle of 4,600 sports men and women from across 72 nations and territories.
The Commonwealth Games 2022 to run till August 8 features thousands of world-class athletes and a global broadcast audience of over a billion.
Pakistan has competed in 13 of the 21 previous Commonwealth Games, from 1954. Its most successful games have been the 1962 Commonwealth Games in Perth, where it was 4th in the overall rankings and won 8 Gold Medals. Its most successful event has been wrestling, where it has won 42 medals, 21 of which have been Gold. It ranks 3rd overall in Wrestling at the Commonwealth Games.
However, Pakistan was competing in 12 of the 19 sports being run at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022. These include Swimming, Athletics (including Para Athletics), Cricket, Boxing, Hockey, Judo, Squash, Table Tennis, Weightlifting, Wrestling, Badminton, and Gymnastics.
On Wednesday, Andrew visited the Usman Wazeer Boxing Academy here, to meet athletes and coaches ahead of the opening of the Commonwealth Games. The Acting High Commissioner also received boxing tips from the pro-athletes, including Usman Wazeer, the first Pakistani to win the Asian Boxing Federation Welterweight title.
