British High Commission celebrates England historic tour to Pakistan

Staff writer

Islamabad: British High Commissioner Christian Turner held a function this week to celebrate the England Test side’s historic return to Pakistan after 17 years hiatus.

England will lock horns with the hosts for the three-match Test series, which started from December 1 with the first Test at Rawalpindi won by England.

Federal minister for information Maryam Aurangzeb, National Assembly speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and trade and commerce minister Khurram Dastagir were also present on the occasion along with other key government and political figures.

Speaking on the occasion Mr Turner expressed his best wishes for the captain of both sides for the upcoming Test series.

Turner thanked England skipper Ben Stokes for his pledge to donate the match fee to the flood victims of Pakistan.

Talking about the passion for cricket in the country, British High Commissioner insisted that the people of Pakistan shared an enormous amount of love for the game.

Tuner, however, claimed that the political temperature of the country will cool down once the Test series roll out.

“People had almost forgotten about the politics during the recent T20 World Cup. I am happy that with this Test series people will once again overlook the politics for the next few days,” he said.

Meanwhile, the PCB authorities present on the occasion praised the British High Commissioner for his efforts to make England’s back-to-back tours to Pakistan possible.

England’s white-ball side had earlier visited the country in September for the seven-match T20I series. “I am extremely delighted over Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain’s return to Pakistan after two decades,” said PCB CEO Faisal Hasnain.