The first Test between Pakistan and England at Rawalpindi is slated to begin on December 1 and before that, the visitors are facing a bigger issue at hand as a stomach bug has caused 13 to 14 members of staff - including half the 16-man playing squad- including captain Ben Stokes and pacer James Anderson to fall ill.
England contingent has traveled with their own chef in Omar Meziane, who worked with the England men’s football team at the 2018 World Cup in Russia and at Euro 2020. This was after the team had faced problems with food and players got ill during the seven-match T20I series in September which visitors won 4-3.
A ceremony on Wednesday for the two captains to unveil the series trophy was postponed to give Stokes time to recover. The outbreak has taken place at the Serena Hotel in Islamabad, where both England and Pakistan have been staying along with members of the UK media.
An ECB spokesperson confirmed that the illnesses were not Covid-19 related, with players experiencing vomiting and diarrhea.
Joe Root, Zak Crawley, Harry Brook, Ollie Pope, and Keaton Jennings were the players at training on Wednesday, while head coach Brendon McCullum was also in attendance.
This illness might very well force England to make changes to the team for the Test which had been announced on Tuesday. The team announced sees Liam Livingstone slated to make his Test debut, while Ben Duckett is in line to make his return to the Test side after six years.
Meanwhile, Joe Root spoke to the media on Wednesday and revealed that discussions were underway about a postponed start to the match, with the spokesperson confirming that play would not have gotten underway in the current circumstances as the stomach bug takes 24 hours to pass.
"It is unfortunate we are in this situation, but we don't think it is food-related. I don't think there is any correlation between the two and in fact the chef is ill as well, so I don't think it is the food.
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The thing is we have been trying to bring a chef away with us for a couple of years now. This is the first opportunity we have had to do it. Look at all the other international sporting teams around, even Premier League and Championship teams have their own chef, so we think from a nutrition and performance side of things, we are trying to do everything we can to optimize ourselves and be in the right position to perform," ESPNCricinfo quoted Root as saying.
This Test match in Rawalpindi will be England’s first in 17 years, while the second Test will be played in Multan from December 9 and the third in Karachi from December 17.
(AFP/ ESPNCricinfo inputs)
