Families won't accompany players, officials during England tour: PCB

Pakistan's entire touring party is required to spend 14 days in quarantine prior to the Test series.

It has been learned that the English Cricket Board (ECB) will spend nearly half a million pounds on the special chartered flight.

The flight will carry 29 players and 14 officials from Pakistan to England at the end of this month.

Previously, Pakistan batsman Haris Sohail had pulled out of the tour due to personal reasons.

During the 2015 WC, the 31-year-old claimed to have spotted a ghost in a hotel room.

As a result, PCB allowed Sohail's wife to accompany him on every foreign tour as he was not comfortable travelling or staying alone.

However, he was compelled to travel alone, this time around.

The players will spend the quarantine period in Birmingham before moving to Manchester.

"The board has told the players that as soon as they reach England they will spend around 14 days in quarantine in Birmingham before they move on to Manchester after staying in isolation and in a bio-secure environment for around three to four weeks for their practice and training," he added.

Last week, Pakistan named a 29-member squad for the upcoming England tour.

The squad is for both Tests and T20Is, while the selectors will categorize the players after reaching England.

PCB also named four players as reserves, in case any of the players fail pre-tour COVID-19 testing.

Meanwhile, the Test series is expected to begin on July 30.

Squad: Abid Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Shan Masood, Azhar Ali (C), Babar Azam (C), Asad Shafiq, Fawad Alam, Haider Ali, Iftikhar Ahmad, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Faheem Ashraf, Haris Rauf, Imran Khan, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sohail Khan, Usman Shinwari, Wahab Riaz, Imad Wasim, Kashif Bhatti, Shadab Khan, and Yasir Shah.