Pakistan Shaheens to face England Lions in white-ball series in Abu Dhabi [3 T20s and 5 One-Day matches from 20 February to 9 March]

[IAJ]

4 consecutive defeats for Shaheens so far on this tour... 1st One day game also done and dusted... Lost the match by 9 wickets....LOL

This is embarrasing, especially on pitches they should know how to bat and bowl on. Imagine if this series was held in England lol. First time in many years I am seeing a poor senior team, and also rubbish teams at u19s level and Shaheehs at same time. Not much hope for future. Chalo boys free mein sair sapatta tou kar lete hain

 

[Ball Blazer]

England Lions beat Pakistan Shaheens by nine wickets in first 50-over match

Abu Dhabi, 27 February 2026:

England Lions beat Pakistan Shaheens by nine wickets in the first 50-over match of the five-match series at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium Nursery One in Abu Dhabi on Friday afternoon. The second match of the series will be played at the same venue on Sunday, 1 March.

After being put in to bat, Shaheens were bowled out for 152 in 38.3 overs. Skipper Shamyl Hussain and Maaz Sadaqat opened the innings, but Shaheens suffered an early setback when Maaz was dismissed for nought in the third over. Sameer Minhas (11, 20b, 2x4s) and Shamyl (18, 35b, 2x4s) attempted to steady the innings, however regular wickets dented the momentum as Shaheens slipped to 36 for three in 10.4 overs.

Saad Khan (21, 29b, 3x4s) and Abdul Samad then stitched a 41-run partnership for the fourth wicket to rebuild the innings. Samad top-scored with a fighting 44 off 57 balls, striking three fours and one six, holding the innings together during a challenging phase.

Wicketkeeper-batter Saad Baig contributed 18 off 26 balls, including one six, but Shaheens lost six wickets for 32 runs after crossing the 120-run mark. From 120 for four, they slipped to 123 for eight, which hampered their chances of posting a competitive total.

For England Lions, Calvin Harrison grabbed three wickets, while James Coles and Sonny Baker bagged two wickets apiece.

Defending a modest total, Shaheens’ bowlers looked to strike early, but England Lions reached 65 without loss in 10 overs. The only breakthrough came through Sufiyan Moqim, who removed Ben McKinney for 42.

Asa Tribe (52 not out, 64b, 6x4s) and James Rew (48 not out, 41b, 8x4s) added an unbeaten 77-run partnership for the second wicket to steer their side home in the 25th over.

Scores in brief:

England Lions beat Pakistan Shaheens by nine wickets

Pakistan Shaheens 152 all out, 38.3 overs (Abdul Samad 44, Saad Khan 21; Calvin Harrison 3-37, James Coles 2-25, Sonny Baker 2-29)

England Lions 154-1, 24.2 overs (Asa Tribe 52 not out, James Rew 48 not out, Ben McKinney 42; Sufiyan Moqim 1-51)

Player of the match – Calvin Harrison (England Lions)

-ENDS-

 

[Omer2002]

And can people stop talking about sufiyam muqeem? I have always found him to be bang average and is struggling here against lions. He has nothing in his bowling to warrant any excitement.correct he is nothing special at al

Sugyan is bang average bowls too quick and doesnt decieve. I woundt say Faisal is much better maybe red ball. I thought waht i saw of Mohammed Hufaiza two years had kuleep potential but as usual PCB dumbed him after his 5fer in a match and played momin qamar.

 

[khyberlion]

Sugyan is bang average bowls too quick and doesnt decieve. I woundt say Faisal is much better maybe red ball. I thought waht i saw of Mohammed Hufaiza two years had kuleep potential but as usual PCB dumbed him after his 5fer in a match and played momin qamar.

Most of the coaches have no idea about cricket. I was watching the national t20s qualifiers and happened to watch Abdul Qadir's batting who was in the reserve for the u19. He looked far better than most of the batsmens in our u19 squad. It is beyond me how none of these coaches etc can not see that. It is the same with Huzaifa who looked far better than momin qamar of the little I saw of him.

 

[Savak]

This series has exposed the third class mediocre quality of our domestic structure and first class cricket where our top domestic performers have all gotten worked over by the English A side in just a few innings.

 

[Savak]

Most of the coaches have no idea about cricket. I was watching the national t20s qualifiers and happened to watch Abdul Qadir's batting who was in the reserve for the u19. He looked far better than most of the batsmens in our u19 squad. It is beyond me how none of these coaches etc can not see that. It is the same with Huzaifa who looked far better than momin qamar of the little I saw of him.

It is no secret that a teams international performance and standing is a reflection of its domestic cricket structure and quality. I have always maintained that the main reason for the decline in our cricket quality is because of the substandard domestic local coaches in our domestic system i.e. regional sides, department sides, NCA, U19 and A teams. A lot of these coaches are old babus who have been working as coaches but where they approach their jobs as 9-5 jobs with no measurable output, these coaches have been coaching for a good 15-20 plus years and have not produced any world class player.

PCB needs to invest their money and hire good coaches from England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and appoint them to work with the domestic teams, with the U19 team, A team, emerging team and at the academies. Give them a 5-10 year tenure with the goal that you have to produce an x number of world class players, have to professionalize cricket at the grass roots, introduce a modern non negotiable fitness, nutrition culture and also hire recently retired players who have experience in playing modern T-20 cricket to serve as assistants under them. This project will cost a lot of money but will pay immense rewards in the next 5-10 years.

Even the PJL concept by Ramiz was a step in the right direction. It should have been introduced better. The PCB should introduce a PJL type tournament for U19 players and should encourage the existing PSL franchises to introduce their U19 squads in the tournament and use it as a feeder. Reward the franchises for establishing pipelines and building pathways.

 

[DeadlyVenom]

This series has exposed the third class mediocre quality of our domestic structure and first class cricket where our top domestic performers have all gotten worked over by the English A side in just a few innings.

England A side would work over our main team in most matches.

They are a deadly bunch of hard hitting cricketers.

 

[GoUgandaCranes]

It is no secret that a teams international performance and standing is a reflection of its domestic cricket structure and quality. I have always maintained that the main reason for the decline in our cricket quality is because of the substandard domestic local coaches in our domestic system i.e. regional sides, department sides, NCA, U19 and A teams. A lot of these coaches are old babus who have been working as coaches but where they approach their jobs as 9-5 jobs with no measurable output, these coaches have been coaching for a good 15-20 plus years and have not produced any world class player.

PCB needs to invest their money and hire good coaches from England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and appoint them to work with the domestic teams, with the U19 team, A team, emerging team and at the academies. Give them a 5-10 year tenure with the goal that you have to produce an x number of world class players, have to professionalize cricket at the grass roots, introduce a modern non negotiable fitness, nutrition culture and also hire recently retired players who have experience in playing modern T-20 cricket to serve as assistants under them. This project will cost a lot of money but will pay immense rewards in the next 5-10 years.

Even the PJL concept by Ramiz was a step in the right direction. It should have been introduced better. The PCB should introduce a PJL type tournament for U19 players and should encourage the existing PSL franchises to introduce their U19 squads in the tournament and use it as a feeder. Reward the franchises for establishing pipelines and building pathways.

The PJL was an absolutely brilliant idea but it required different execution. They tried to make it a clone of PSL and failed financially. A competition like this should be a feeder league to PSL emerging category and must start before PSL and have a longer duration so foreign coaches can actually work long-term with the prospects.

More than the players, the coaches should be the stars of such events and PCB should happily spend 2-5 million USD for this enterprise thinking of it as a future asset instead of a current expense. The thing is simple: if the team does well, PCB will make more money, if they don't, then they'll just be a meme team and no one will have any serious interest in playing against them.

There's no point in giving people like Wahab, Sarfraz, Waqar, Misbah, etc. free joyrides on the PCB gravy train. Bring in proper professionals who know what they are give them proper durations so they can actually do something.

 

[khyberlion]

It is no secret that a teams international performance and standing is a reflection of its domestic cricket structure and quality. I have always maintained that the main reason for the decline in our cricket quality is because of the substandard domestic local coaches in our domestic system i.e. regional sides, department sides, NCA, U19 and A teams. A lot of these coaches are old babus who have been working as coaches but where they approach their jobs as 9-5 jobs with no measurable output, these coaches have been coaching for a good 15-20 plus years and have not produced any world class player.

PCB needs to invest their money and hire good coaches from England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and appoint them to work with the domestic teams, with the U19 team, A team, emerging team and at the academies. Give them a 5-10 year tenure with the goal that you have to produce an x number of world class players, have to professionalize cricket at the grass roots, introduce a modern non negotiable fitness, nutrition culture and also hire recently retired players who have experience in playing modern T-20 cricket to serve as assistants under them. This project will cost a lot of money but will pay immense rewards in the next 5-10 years.

Even the PJL concept by Ramiz was a step in the right direction. It should have been introduced better. The PCB should introduce a PJL type tournament for U19 players and should encourage the existing PSL franchises to introduce their U19 squads in the tournament and use it as a feeder. Reward the franchises for establishing pipelines and building pathways.

Pjl was probably one of the best thing pcb had done. A shame it only lasted 1 year. We desperately need to bring it back.

 

[Muhammad Saad]

This series has exposed the third class mediocre quality of our domestic structure and first class cricket where our top domestic performers have all gotten worked over by the English A side in just a few innings.

Just like our top U19 batters who were aveaging 90s and 100s were looked like tailenders against other teams.

 

[Muhammad Saad]

This time even the pitches are not an excuse as they are playing in almost home conditions, coaches are not at fault either it’s just the talent is not there and Saad Khan is a great example of this, the guy keep performing at domestic cricket for more than couple of seasons but looked like someone who has never faced 135k+ consistent pace bowling and was batting like a tailender in front of it.

You cannot blame the coach for the slow reaction time of the batter.

 

[Omer2002]

Most of the coaches have no idea about cricket. I was watching the national t20s qualifiers and happened to watch Abdul Qadir's batting who was in the reserve for the u19. He looked far better than most of the batsmens in our u19 squad. It is beyond me how none of these coaches etc can not see that. It is the same with Huzaifa who looked far better than momin qamar of the little I saw of him.

Yes bro he is the samd guy and irony thing is he got a a 5ifer doesnt matter against Nepal.or somebody but still hasnt played. Sameer to be honest i dnt want to be too harsh looked well out of his dept today but lets not forget potts and one more guy has already played for seniors

 

[khyberlion]

Yes bro he is the samd guy and irony thing is he got a a 5ifer doesnt matter against Nepal.or somebody but still hasnt played. Sameer to be honest i dnt want to be too harsh looked well out of his dept today but lets not forget potts and one more guy has already played for seniors

It is good for Sameer to be playing against these bowlers, he will know what is needed of him to be an international player. He is too raw atm he looks good in patches and awful in some. He will need time.

 

[BouncerGuy]

England Lions v Pakistan Shaheens game on Sunday cancelled; Women's training camp delayed

England Lions' second 50-over game against Pakistan Shaheens in Abu Dhabi on Sunday 1 March has been cancelled, while England Women's training camp to the UAE has been delayed due to the military attacks in the region.

An ECB spokesperson said: “The safety and security of our teams and staff is our top priority. We are in contact with security experts and the Government in relation to current events in the Middle East, and are following official advice. Tomorrow’s second 50-over game between England Men’s Lions and Pakistan Shaheens in Abu Dhabi will no longer go ahead, and we are delaying the departure of England Women for their proposed trip to Abu Dhabi next week.

"We will continue to monitor and assess the situation and official advice in relation to the future of these trips. England Men will travel to Mumbai for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup semi-final as planned.”

England Lions won the T20 series in Abu Dhabi 3-0, and defeated the same opposition in the first 50-over game on Friday.

England Lions v Pakistan Shaheens game on Sunday cancelled; Women's training camp delayed

www.ecb.co.uk