England expect ‘tough fight’ as Pakistan series is confirmed

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England’s away series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates has been finalised.

The England and Wales Cricket Board confirmed Thursday that the series will include three Tests, four one-day internationals and three Twenty20s in October and November.

The first Test will take place in Abu Dhabi’s Zayed Cricket Stadium between October 13-17, with the second at the Dubai Cricket Stadium starting five days later and the final test at Sharjah Cricket Club from November 1-5.

“We are pleased to have agreed the schedule for this series. Our last tour to UAE saw Pakistan win the Test series while we were victorious in both the ODI and T20 series.”

“We expect this autumn’s tour will be equally hard fought,” said ECB Chief Executive Officer Tom Harrison.

Pakistan jumped to No.3 in Test rankings after defeating Sri Lanka 2-1 in the series last month while it also took an unbeatable 3-1 lead in the five-match ODI series after beating Sri Lanka by seven wickets on Wednesday in Colombo.

While England lost the test series in 2012, it went on to beat Pakistan both in the one-day and Twenty20 series.

“As is evident from its away wins in Sri Lanka, Team Pakistan is upwardly mobile and we hope that it would maintain this trajectory against England across the three formats,” chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board Shaharyar Khan said in a statement on Thursday.

Abu Dhabi will organize back to back ODIs on Nov. 11 and 13 while the remaining two ODIs will be played at Sharjah (Nov. 17) and Dubai (Nov. 20).

England will round of its tour with two Twenty20s on Nov. 26 and 27 at Dubai before Sharjah hosts the last T20 on Nov. 30.