LONDON: White-ball specialist Liam Livingstone has been given the chance to shine with the red ball for England’s Test tour to Pakistan as opener Alex Lees was dropped from the 15-man squad announced on Wednesday.
Livingstone has never played an international at Test level and has not even featured in first-class cricket for over a year, increasingly focusing his efforts on the shorter forms after becoming a mainstay of England’s limited-overs side.
The 29-year-old’s selection represents a huge gamble having sat out Lancashire’s entire championship season and managing just eight games in the two previous campaigns, averaging 11 in 2021 and 18.5 in 2020.
But he has quickly become a star of the international game in limited overs.
Livingstone smashed his country’s fastest ever international century in just 42 balls against Pakistan last summer and his style is likely to chime with the attacking instincts of captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum.
Lees, who was left out of the pool of players given a central contract earlier in the week, has paid for averaging just 23.8 from 10 Test caps.
Keaton Jennings, whose two Test centuries were both made in the sub-continent, returns along with Ben Duckett, while Surrey all-rounder Will Jacks has earned his first call-up to the Test squad.
Veteran fast bowler Stuart Broad misses out with his partner expecting their first child toward the end of November, making room for Surrey’s Jamie Overton.
England’s trip is their first to play a Test series in Pakistan since 2005.
“It will be a historic tour and a compelling series against a good side,” said England’s managing director of cricket Rob Key.
“The selectors have picked a squad for the conditions we can expect in Pakistan. There is a strong blend of youth and experience and players who will adapt well to the types of pitches we are likely to get across the three-match series.”
All three Tests are packed into just 21 days between December 1 and 21 in Rawalpindi, Multan and Karachi.
Squad in full:
Ben Stokes (captain), James Anderson, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ben Foakes, Will Jacks, Keaton Jennings, Jack Leach, Liam Livingstone, Jamie Overton, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Mark Wood
England bet on Liam Livingstone, drop Alex Lees for tour of Pakistan
https://arab.news/pabj2
England bet on Liam Livingstone, drop Alex Lees for tour of Pakistan
- Despite not playing internationally at Test level, Livingstone is a star in limited overs
- England are scheduled to play three Tests in Pakistan within just 21 days in December
Traders say Karachi plaza fire caused $54 million losses as death toll climbs to 71
- Rescuers work through unstable debris as identification continues, compensation announced
- Rising death toll underscores scale of the disaster and the challenges now facing forensic teams
ISLAMABAD: A deadly fire at a major shopping plaza in Pakistan’s largest city of Karachi has killed at least 71 people and caused estimated losses of up to Rs15 billion ($53.6 million), traders and officials said on Friday, as recovery teams continue searching unstable debris and families await identification of victims.
The fire broke out on Jan. 17 at Gul Plaza, a densely packed commercial complex in the heart of Karachi that housed more than 1,200 shops. The blaze burned for over 24 hours before being brought under control, trapping workers and shoppers inside and leaving large sections of the building structurally unsafe.
Deadly fires are a recurring problem in Karachi, a city of more than 20 million people, where overcrowded markets, aging infrastructure, illegal construction and weak enforcement of safety regulations frequently contribute to disasters. Officials say a blaze of this scale is rare.
“We have processed 71 sets of remains, of which 20 have been identified,” chief police surgeon Dr. Summaiya Syed said on Friday, underscoring the scale of the disaster and the challenges facing forensic teams.
Identification has been significantly slowed by the condition of the remains recovered from the site, Syed said, noting that many bodies were found in fragments, complicating DNA analysis and prolonging the process for families waiting for confirmation.
Tanveer Pasta, president of the Gul Plaza Market Association, said all shops in the plaza were destroyed, estimating total losses at up to Rs15 billion ($53.6 million).
“There were big importers sitting here,” he told Arab News on Thursday. “Just three days before this fire, 31 [shipping] containers were unloaded.”
Relatives of dozens of missing persons have remained near the destroyed plaza and at hospitals even after submitting DNA samples, with some families expressing frustration over the pace of recovery and identification.
Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab said the city administration remained focused on rescue operations and on returning victims’ remains to their families as quickly as possible. His remarks came after he visited the homes of several victims, according to a statement from his office.
“Rescue personnel of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation are still engaged in the rescue operation, while the administration is making every effort to hand over [remains] of the victims, loved ones to their families at the earliest,” Wahab was quoted as saying.
Earlier this week, the Sindh provincial government announced compensation of Rs10 million ($35,720) for the family of each person killed in the blaze and said affected shopkeepers would also receive financial assistance.
Authorities have not yet confirmed the cause of the fire. Police have said preliminary indications point to a possible electrical short circuit, though officials stress conclusions will only be drawn after investigations are completed.
