Ashley Giles calm over England's Test prospects after three Pakistan players test positive for Covid-19

Haider Ali, Haris Rauf and Shadab Khan all tested positive on Monday.
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Ashley Giles has allayed fears that England’s Test series against Pakistan hangs in the balance, after three of the tourists’ players tested positive for Covid-19.

The squad are due to fly to England on Sunday, but on Monday it was revealed that Haider Ali, Haris Rauf and Shadab Khan had all tested positive.

Further test results will be announced in Pakistan later on Tuesday, but Giles, the ECB’s managing director of England men’s cricket, said he was confident the three-Test series would go ahead at the end of next month.

“It’s a concern and we’re most concerned about those players who tested positive and concerned about their welfare,” he said. “At the moment, I don’t think the series is in doubt.

“We’re far enough away from the start of the Test series to not worry about that too much for the moment. There’s some more Test results coming out later from the rest of the group, so we’ll see what that says, but we’re still hopeful that the Pakistan team will be arriving in the country fairly soon.”

The positive tests from the Pakistan squad came from just five samples taken in Rawalpindi. The players in question were all asymptomatic and have begun to self-isolate at home.

Further results from the squad from testing centres in Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar will be revealed later today.

Giles said that further positive tests from the tourists would not necessarily derail the impending tour.

“We are still far enough out even, if a number of those results were still positive,” he said.

England’s 30-man training squad for the three Tests against West Indies go into their bubble today at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton, where they will be tested on arrival.

The situation in Pakistan, if it worsens, could yet lead to the West Indies matches being the only Test cricket on English soil this summer.

But Giles added: “I think all of this has uncertainty still, even to the West Indies, knowing how fast moving this situation has been around the world. So, we’ve been very careful at every step. But do we really know what’s around the corner? No.

“In the Pakistan team’s case, the situation in Pakistan is not great at the moment and our thoughts go out to the whole country. There are a number of hurdles to cross.”

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