Pakistan to hold next month’s England Tests in Multan and Rawalpindi — report

Groundmen cover the pitch owing to dark clouds as poor light halts play during the fourth day of the second and last Test cricket match between Pakistan and Bangladesh, at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi on September 2, 2024. (AFP/File)
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Updated 09 September 2024
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Pakistan to hold next month’s England Tests in Multan and Rawalpindi — report

  • Reports earlier said schedule for next month’s series can be altered due to construction at proposed grounds
  • England are scheduled to arrive in Pakistan on October 2, with the first Test match starting on October 7

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will be holding a three-Test series between Pakistan and England in Pakistan, an international cricket website reported on Sunday, citing a spokesperson of PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi.

England last week sought clarity from the PCB over their upcoming Test tour of Pakistan following reports that matches could be moved to another country.

The development came amid ongoing construction work as Pakistan prepares to bring its stadiums at par with international standards before Champions Trophy next year.

“The ECB [England and Wales Cricket Board] has given the go-ahead to hold the series in Multan and Rawalpindi,” ESPNcricinfo quoted Naqvi’s spokesperson Mohammad Rafiullah as saying.

The ECB is satisfied with the venues, Rafiullah added.

England are scheduled to play the first Test in Multan from October 7, followed by matches in Karachi and Rawalpindi, but renovations ahead of next year’s Champions Trophy appear to be causing issues at the latter two venues.

However, there has been no official comment from the PCB and the board has yet to officially finalize venues for each of the three Test matches for the series, according to the report.

England coach Brendon McCullum addressed the issue on Thursday while speaking to reporters at The Oval ahead of the third Test against Sri Lanka.

“We don’t really know (what is happening in Pakistan) but we can’t pick a team until we know where we’re going to play,” he said. “It would be nice if, over the next couple of days, we found out.”

England are scheduled to arrive in Pakistan on October 2, with the first Test starting on October 7.


Hundreds of migrants, including Pakistanis, land in Greece after search operation at sea

Updated 19 December 2025
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Hundreds of migrants, including Pakistanis, land in Greece after search operation at sea

  • Rescued migrants were taken to a temporary facility on Crete after reaching the port of Agia Galini
  • Greece has made deportations of rejected asylum seekers a priority under its migration policy

ATHENS: Greece’s Coast Guard rescued about 540 migrants from a fishing boat off ​Europe’s southernmost island of Gavdos on Friday, one of the biggest groups to reach the country in recent months.

The migrants were found during a Greek search operation some 16 nautical miles (29.6 km) off Gavdos, a Coast Guard statement said. They are all well and are being taken ‌to a ‌temporary facility on the nearby ‌island ⁠of ​Crete after ‌reaching the port of Agia Galini, a Coast Guard official said, adding most of the migrants were men from Bangladesh, Egypt and Pakistan.

In a separate incident on Thursday, the EU’s border agency Frontex rescued 65 men and five women from two ⁠migrant boats in distress off Gavdos, the Greek Coast Guard ‌said.

Greece was on the front ‍line of a 2015-16 ‍migration crisis when more than a million people ‍from the Middle East and Africa landed on its shores before moving on to other European countries, mainly Germany.

Flows have ebbed since then, but both Crete ​and Gavdos — the two Mediterranean islands nearest to the African coast — have seen a steep rise ⁠in migrant boats, mainly from Libya, reaching their shores over the past year and deadly accidents remain common along that route.

Greece, Cyprus, Spain and Italy will be eligible for help in dealing with migratory pressures under a new EU mechanism when the bloc’s pact on migration and asylum enters into force in mid-2026.

The center-right government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said deportation of rejected asylum ‌seekers will be a priority.