An unidentified infection caused several members of the touring England team, including the team’s captain Ben Stokes, to become ill on the eve of the first Test match, which was to be played against Pakistan in Rawalpindi. This put the English team in a precarious position. On Wednesday, the Pakistan Cricket Board announced that it was in discussion with the England and Wales Cricket Board over the next steps to be taken. “The PCB and ECB are in conversations over the commencement of the 1st #PAKvENG Test since certain England players are down with viral infection,” the board stated on Twitter. “The PCB and ECB are in discussions regarding the commencement of the 1st #PAKvENG Test.” As a response to the tweet sent out by both of the countries’ cricket governing bodies, England paceman Stuart Broad decided to poke some fun at the situation by posting photographs of former England captain Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain along with the question “An option?” in his tweets. Because Nasser Hussain did not want to fall behind in the social media banter game, he promptly responded to Broad’s message by saying, “Siri, show me the inverse of Bazball!!!” As a prime illustration of the type of humour known as “self-deprecating humour,”
Since Brendon McCullum has been the coach of the England Test team and Ben Stokes has been the captain, Nasser Hussain pretty much implied that the approach of both of the former greats was quite opposite to the attacking fashion in which England has started batting in Test cricket since Brendon McCullum has taken over as coach of the Test team.
Following their Twenty20 team’s successful tour of Pakistan two months ago, during which they played seven matches and won the series 4-3, England is currently on their first Test tour of Pakistan in 17 years.
Due to issues with the food and players getting sick during the Twenty20 series, it was decided to send in a chef by the name of Omar Meziane. Meziane previously worked as a cook for the England men’s football team during the 2018 World Cup in Russia and for the Euro 2020 tournament.
The series between England and Pakistan will consist of three tests, the second of which will take place in Multan on December 9 and the third of which will take place in Karachi from December 17-21.