England will embark on Pakistan for a seven-match T20I series in September. The white-ball tour of England to Pakistan was slated for 2021, but following its cancellation, two additional T20Is have been added to the initial itinerary, making the upcoming series a seven-match affair.
The English side has a busy year ahead of itself. Close to the 2022 T20 World Cup, they have the white-ball series planned against South Africa, Pakistan and Australia.
Considering the hectic schedule, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), is likely to rest the multi-format cricketers. As per a Daily Mail report, "Multi-format cricketers are likely to miss the Pakistan series in order to rest — as there is no let-up from the start of the T20 matches until December 22 — and will therefore travel directly to Australia on October 1."
After the culmination of the global event, England will be up against Australia in an ODI series. Then, they will travel back to Pakistan for the red-ball leg of the tour.
Newly-appointed Test skipper of England Ben Stokes had expressed his displeasure on the team's chock-a-block schedule.
"The schedule is definitely something that needs looking at. It is ridiculous the amount of cricket people are expected to play. The fact there is a Test match and one-day series overlapping sums it up," Stokes said.
"It really needs looking at from a workload point of view. I don't want to miss England matches. I want to play as much as I can for England but in an ideal world you would not want to be having discussions about when you want to rest, you would have a schedule that allows you to play everything. Unfortunately, it is not possible," he further cited.
With Stokes understandably unhappy with the crammed calendar, the ECB have finally started to act upon it.