Cricket fans did not get what they wanted from the 2020 cricket season. However, if you’re an avid supporter of cricket in Pakistan, you have gotten your dose of cricket in August and September. The national Pakistani cricket team toured England for six matches at the end of summer 2020, including three Tests and three Twenty20 International matches.
The Test series were a part of the 2019–21 ICC World Test Championship that represents the inaugural edition of the ICC World Test Championship of Test cricket. Those six matches were played at Old Trafford and Rose Bowl in Greater Manchester and Hampshire. Old Trafford was the location of the T20I matches as well.
After all cricket matches were postponed in the spring of 2020, cricket news in Pakistan has been calm. Luckily, cricket fans were not left without matches, but what happened during the 27-day tour of England? Stay tuned to find out!
Test Series
Unfortunately, the Test series matches between Pakistan and England did not bring a lot of excitement, although they were long-awaited by cricket enthusiasts. The initial Test match played at Old Trafford from August 5 to August 9 broke the ice as the first match after a long summer. Although Pakistan won the toss, they did not win the match, as England prevailed after a heated four-day Test.
England’s national team won by three wickets, and Chris Woakers was declared the player of the match for his unbeaten innings of 84 runs. Ultimately, Pakistan’s aggressive approach to the Test did not seem to work to their favour.
Four days later, on August 13, the teams met again, but this time at Rose Bowl for the second Test match. Pakistan won the toss and chose to bat first. Furthermore, 2020 has not been mild to sports fans, as the first and second days of the match were cancelled after only 45.4 and 40.2 overs were bowled due to bad light and rain. The third day of the Test did not see any players on the field due to heavy rain. Similarly, the fourth and the fifth day were cancelled after only 10.2 and 38.1 overs were bowled.
The match was declared a draw with the player of the match being Mohammad Rizwan of Pakistan.
The third Test wasn’t any better, unfortunately. England won the toss and elected to bat. They had a great start during the first three days of play. The fourth and fifth days were cancelled after a short time spent on the field, again due to bad light and rain. Similarly, the match was declared a draw, with both teams earning another 13 World Test Championship points.
T20I Series
All T20I matches were played at Old Trafford in Manchester with varying results. The first T20I match was played on August 28 after Pakistan won the toss. Again, rain prevented the match from coming to an end, as it poured down during England’s innings. Due to the circumstances, the match ended with no result.
However, the second and the third match played on August 30 and September 1 brought much more excitement for fans of both England and Pakistani national teams. Although Pakistani players, like Mohammad Hafeez who became the first cricketer to score 2,000 runs and take 50 wickets in T20Is, did their best, it was not enough. England won the match by five wickets.
The third and the final match played between Pakistan and England finally shed some light on how fantastic some of the Pakistani players are, especially one of the newest additions to the team — Haider Ali. Ali became the first batsman for Pakistan to score fifty in a T20I debut and Pakistan scored a win by five runs.