Pakistan players begin training camp for South Africa tour

The Pakistan players will start their training camp for the next month’s South Africa tour on Tuesday, (December 22) after 26 players and 12 officials were tested COVID-19 negative, Pakistan Cricket Board announced in a statement. Pakistan will play three ODIs and as many T20Is, starting on January 20, 2021.



The tour will be the first big assignment for newly-appointed head coach David hemp and bowling coach Arshad Khan. Hemp was appointed in October while Khan joined the forces a month later. Mohammad Kamran Hussain will be the assistant coach at the training camp.



ALSO READ: Cricket South Africa to organise a training camp for players in January 2021



“A player, presently out of the country, and an official will join the camp later in the week after returning the two mandatory negative tests. Separately, a player has been advised a further week’s rest so that she can completely recover after an antibodies test revealed she had recently recuperated from Covid-19,” the Board’s statement read.



The first two ODIs will be played in Durban on January 20 and 23 before the action moves to Pietermaritzburg for the third ODI and the opening two T20Is on January 26, 29 and 31 respectively. The teams will return to Durban once again for the third T20I on February 3.



The last time Pakistan toured South Africa was in 2019 when they played three ICC Championship ODIs which ended in a 1-1 draw. One match ended in a tie. In the five-match T20I series, Pakistan took a 2-1 lead before South Africa bounced back to clinch the series 3-2.