England’s cricketers had no role in the England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) decision to pull out of their of Pakistan, the country’s international players’ union said. England had pulled out of the tour, which was to take place later this year, after New Zealand pulled out of their tour of the country just minutes before the start of the first match citing a security threat.
“At no stage did TEPP inform the ECB that the players would not be touring,” TEPP chair Richard Bevan told ESPNCricinfo. “At no stage has the ECB ever asked TEPP or the teams, men and women, whether the tour should go ahead or whether players were prepared to tour Pakistan. It is 100% incorrect to suggest TEPP intervened to say the players would not tour.”
Pakistan was shunned by other cricketing nations for almost a decade after the deadly 2009 attack on the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore but has recently been wooing back top international sides.
The England teams were each scheduled to play two T20 international matches on Oct. 13 and 14 in Rawalpindi, with the women’s side due to stay on for a three-match one-day international series from Oct. 17-21.
