Tag: Pakistan Cricket Team

  • Eighth Pakistan player in New Zealand tests positive for corona

    Eighth Pakistan player in New Zealand tests positive for corona

    An eighth member of Pakistan’s cricket squad has tested positive for coronavirus as the team undergoes quarantine in Christchurch, New Zealand health authorities said Wednesday.

    The health department said there was one new confirmed case among the squad and a further two members were being investigated, adding to the seven who previously tested positive over the past week.

    The department said the team would not be allowed to train together until doctors were confident it would not lead to more coronavirus cases.

    Director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield issued the team with a “final warning” last week for flouting social distancing protocols at their hotel.

    No further breaches have been reported since.

    Two of the original six cases last week were subsequently found to be historical, meaning they were not infectious, while the other four were active. A seventh member of the squad tested positive on Saturday.

    The 53-member tour party, led by skipper Babar Azam, arrived in Christchurch on November 24 for two weeks of quarantine which is mandatory for all overseas arrivals in New Zealand.

    All tested negative before leaving Lahore for the five-match tour, which is scheduled to begin with a Twenty20 international in Auckland on December 18.

    New Zealand has largely eradicated community transmission of coronavirus recording just 1,704 cases and 25 deaths in a population of five million.

  • End of tour? Six Pakistan cricketers test positive for COVID-19 in New Zealand

    At least six members of the Pakistan Cricket Team — that is under managed insolation facility — have tested positive for coronavirus in Christchurch, confirmed the New Zealand Cricket and International Cricket Council.

    Two of the six results had been deemed “historical”, while four are dubbed as fresh cases. It is not clear at this stage if the six who tested positive are players, staff members, or others in the touring party. They will move into quarantine in the managed isolation facility.

    “All six squad members would be moved to the quarantine arm of the managed isolation facility, while the team’s exemption to train had been put on hold until investigations had been completed,” reports in foreign media stated.

    Pakistan, who arrived in New Zealand on Tuesday, were set to face the Black Caps in three T20s and two test matches, starting on December 20. However, the team was supposed to go under a two-week isolation period as a precautionary measure against coronavirus. According to the NZ cricket board, some of the Pakistan players also flouted the restrictions on their first day of managed isolation.

    “We will be having discussions with the tourists to assist them in understanding the requirements,” the board said.

    “While this is disappointing for the Pakistan squad, the testing outcomes and the actions taken show the Government system is working,” NZC said in a statement. It further added that the health and safety of the touring teams was of paramount importance.

    In September, the NZ sports minister had said that if a player “tests positive it would probably mean the end of the tour as games couldn’t be played”.

  • PAK v ZIM ODIs: Pakistani bowlers took fifers in each match

    PAK v ZIM ODIs: Pakistani bowlers took fifers in each match

    Three Pakistani bowlers have achieved the maiden five-wicket haul in the Pakistan vs Zimbabwe One Day International (ODIs) matches.

    In the first ODI, Shaheen Shah Afridi grabbed the fifer and returned with the figures of 5-49.

    During the second ODI, off-spinner Iftikhar Ahmed’s maiden five-wicket haul earned Pakistan a convincing six-wicket victory over Zimbabwe in the second one-day international and 30-year-old Ahmed returned with 5-40.

    Meanwhile, Pakistani fast bowler Mohammad Hasnain had a day to remember on Tuesday during the Pakistan vs Zimbabwe third ODI in Rawalpindi.

    The 20-year-old picked up five wickets for just 26 runs in his 10-over spell, wreaking havoc to the opponent’s top order. He picked up three wickets in his opening spell, which he shared with Shaheen.

    Today’s game was the first of the series for Hasnain. He finished with figures of 10-3-26-5 as he became the third Pakistani bowler to claim a fifer in back-to-back matches of the ongoing series.

    Apart from the outclass performance by Hasnain, Pakistan lost the match in a Super over scoring only 2 runs on the loss of 2 wickets while Zimbabwe scored 5 runs of 3 balls, winning the match with 3 balls remaining.