Warwickshire County Cricket Club's team set to make historic visit to Pakistan

BIRMINGHAM: Warwickshire County Cricket Club is set to embark on a historic two-week visit to Pakistan next month for pre-season preparations, marking an unprecedented tour by any county cricket team.

This was announced by the club’s CEO Stuart Cain, along with its High Performance Manager Paul Greetham, Rafaqat Sabir who is a member of the club’s Diversity and Inclusion Board and Bukhtawar Mir, Vice Consul at Pakistan Consulate in Birmingham during a press conference at Edgbaston Stadium, the home of Warwick CCC.

Speaking to Geo News Stuart Cain, CEO of Warwickshire CCC said that the touring squad is a mixture of players from the academy team and senior team which will not only prove beneficial to improve the cricketing skills of young players but the very important life skills too. The success of this tour can prompt other county clubs to plan similar tours to Pakistan which will ultimately help to strengthen the cricketing ties at the grassroots level between England and Pakistan.

“We’re really excited to get out to Lahore. I think it's it's really important for us so that our players understand some of the culture of Pakistan bearing in mind how big the British Pakistani community is in Birmingham and West Midlands but also experienced different lives and different cultures and diversity. But equally important is the high quality of cricket you are playing against proper position who will give our guys a real challenge in high-quality facilities and that’s really important for us too”.

In Stuart’s opinion, this historic tour will not only help the players to develop their cricket keying skills but also some very important life skills.

“Though it’s important they play cricket and train it is also equally important that when they're in a different country they experience the culture of that country, they get to understand some of the history, the heritage and the culture, the food, the music too”.

Stuart Cain told Geo that although he has never been to Lahore he’s very much aware of the city’s rich cultural history and looking forward to enjoying the culinary delights for which the city is famous all over the world.

“I’m really excited as I've never been to Pakistan. I will be there for three or four days and besides doing all the other things visit the city, and experience the culture and the history of Pakistan. I'm not training so I can go to dinner every night whereas the players can't but I'm really looking forward to it some good few days in Lahore”.

Local businessman Rafaqat Sabir who also sits on the club’s diversity and inclusion board is the brain behind making this tour possible. Speaking to Geo News Rafaqat Sabir who also heads an organisation called British Pakistani Initiative said that it took him a good few months to convince the club’s administration that Pakistan is now an absolutely safe and secure place to visit since the international cricket has returned to a country few years ago.

“I floated this idea about 12 months ago while they were planning for a pre-season tour either to Sri Lanka or South Africa so I suggested that why don’t they go to Pakistan. They’re a bit hesitant and it took me some time to convince them and in the end, they agreed”.

“Initially they were a bit worried about the expenses but then our organisation the British Pakistani Initiative stepped in and promised to partially fund the tour and provide some logistical support locally in Lahore. The Consulate of Pakistan in Birmingham has been very helpful in sorting out the visas of the members of the touring team within just a couple of days”.

“We have also made sure that they have some downtime so that they can visit Badshahi Mosque, Lahore Fort, Minar e Pakistan etc so they can have a better understanding of Pakistani culture and history. The young players are very excited, a couple of players from Warwickshire have started in PSL also a few years ago an MCC squad led by Kumar Sangakkara toured Pakistan also had players from the club so they also gave positive feedback about the safety and security of players”, Rafaqat added further.

The touring squad is made up of twelve players and four officials headed by Warwickshire CCC’s high-performance manager Paul Greetham who told Geo that they always used to take players to places like Sri Lanka and UAE for pre-season preps so they can experience the challenging environments, tour to Pakistan will no doubt be extremely challenging for young players but in the long run will help them to develop a strong character.

“I think taking a group of players out to a place where they really got no knowledge of that there's a lot of unknown it's got real benefits so you start to see players in a slightly different light. You see a lot of character development, even in the space of two weeks players going out there facing significant challenges, different playing conditions, different types of environment and ethos around them and then some players step up to that challenge so you learn a lot about players and it will benefit them a great deal but it also benefits us in terms of developing them as players. We've always decided to take our best young players away to some very challenging places and countries. Especially those countries who have not only rich cricketing culture but also a real challenge for them”.

Since most of the players have to attend their educational institutes the tour has been scheduled around the February mid-term holidays. Players are set to stay in Lahore from 12-24 Feb. But Paul is hopeful on the back of the success of the tour the club will plan more tours of the first team as well as the women's team in the future.

“I think this is a great way of exploring so the idea is taking a group out here with an exciting itinerary which can hopefully pave the way for future visits of our first team squad the men's and of course the women as well. Pakistani women have got fantastic side themselves so both of our professional groups men and women look to travel overseas most years and so this will open the opportunity of potentially to explore Pakistan as another really viable venue”.

The Consulate of Pakistan has also been very instrumental in assisting and facilitating the necessary travel arrangements for the touring squad. Bukhtawar Mir, Vice Consul at Pakistan Consulate Birmingham said that this is a great opportunity for the young cricketers to not only enjoy the rich culture of cricket in Pakistan but also the cricketing facilities which are of international standards.

“This tour will prove very beneficial for the Warwickshire club as well as Pakistan cricket. This can lead other county clubs to visit Pakistan not just to play cricket but also experience the amazing cricketing facilities, culture, hospitality and nation's unparalleled passion for cricket”. Since this tour has been announced many other county clubs have expressed their interest in organising such tours so once this is over without doubt this will prompt other clubs to send their teams to Pakistan which will be good for Pakistan’s image and cricket.

Our major aim at the Pakistan Consulate in Birmingham is to fully facilitate this kind of activities and encourage and promote the positive contribution of the British Pakistani community”.