[PICTURES/VIDEOS] Prince William and Kate Middleton's visit to the NCA in Lahore

[MenInG]

Pictures courtesy of the PCB.

Preparations in progress for the Royal visit:

 

[MenInG]

 

[MenInG]

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[Danyaalr01]

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Pakistani royalty (an Afridi) playing cricket with British Royalty

 

[Abdullah719]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Prince William and Kate Middleton, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, having a bat today at the NCA in Lahore <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RoyalVisitPakistan?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RoyalVisitPakistan</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cricket</a> <a href="https://t.co/NMS71eA7Fv">pic.twitter.com/NMS71eA7Fv</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1184766187617603589?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 17, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Rana]

Why was our Prince Shahzad not there to welcome them?

Politics has no bounds in PCB!

 

[Sir-fraz]

 

[MenInG]

The Duke of Cambridge showed off his sporting abilities after picking up a cricket bat during his Pakistan royal tour.

William and the duchess both took turns hitting some soft balls in a game of cricket at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore.

There were cheers as the duke hit a six, while Kate was caught out twice after half a dozen balls on Thursday afternoon.

The competitive couple often face off against each other in sporting events, including at a sailing regatta in the summer.


After both taking a turn at the wicket, the couple high-fived the young boys and girls they were playing with on the pitch.

They joined children participating in the British Council's Dosti programme, which promotes sport as a part of child development.

William and Kate were introduced to a number of cricketing figures at the ground, including Waqar Younis, former fast bowler for Pakistan.

They met former international cricketer, prime minister Imran Khan, on Tuesday.

Earlier on the fourth day of their tour, the couple made a trip to the SOS Children's Village, where they attended a birthday party.

Their itinerary in Lahore includes a tour of the Badshahi Mosque, the most historic Islamic site in Lahore, set in the heart of the walled city.

The duke will be following in the footsteps of both of his parents with the visit.

His mother Diana, Princess of Wales visited the site in 1991, and it was also included in the 2006 royal tour of the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall.

Wrapping up their fourth and penultimate day, the couple will then travel to the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre.

The cancer facility is another location previously visited by the late Diana as a guest of her friend, Khan.

Their visit to the academy, which is the home of the 1992 Cricket World Cup, won when Khan captained the national team, saw the couple given bats for their three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.

https://www.newcastleherald.com.au/story/6445090/william-and-kate-go-in-to-bat-in-pakistan/?cs=7579

 

[MenInG]

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Some issues with our fielding it seems!

 

[Bewal Express]

Afridi to be reserve WK on the Aussie tour?

 

[Danyaalr01]

Some issues with our fielding it seems!

I'm sure we have all done this with little kids and the royal families of various countries, to make them happy.

 

[Osama Shafeeqe]

You can see the fear in their eyes. Very irresponsible of the British Government to allow any royal to visit such an unsafe country. ECB should take a stand and outright say that our cricket players are more important than the future king and the Duchess of Cambridge. The British Government has no idea how dangerous Pakistan is, I mean if esteemed cricket bodies like Bangladesh and India flat out refuse to even think about touring Pakistan and cricketing rockstars like Dickwella, Dinesh Chandimal and Lakmal feel unsafe in Pakistan, those biased political agendas are definitely more reliable than the British Government's assessment of security in Pakistan.

 

[MenInG]

William and Kate, who met former national captain Imran Khan on Tuesday, met other "international cricketing legends" at the event, including Hasan Ali, Azhar Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sana Mir, Urooj Mumtaz, Ayesha Zafar and Waqar Younis.

After both taking a turn at the wicket, the couple high-fived the young boys and girls they were playing with on the pitch.

Despite his cricketing abilities, the duke admitted he had not played since school while the duchess conceded that, while she is a cricket fan, she particularly likes tennis and swimming.

Waqar Younis, former captain of the Pakistan cricket team, was umpiring and said: "I'm glad that they came - it was a great encouragement for these young kids.

On their skills, he joked: "They probably need some homework! William told me he has played a lot of tennis - and that he really only played cricket when he was younger. But he said he can work on it."

He said that the couple hadn't seemed nervous about their performance, saying: "I was more tense than he was."

Upon arrival, William appeared to be feeling the 30 degree heat and remarked to the children he was introduced to: "Is it warm for cricket today?"

Two of the youngsters, Mohammad and Zairab, told the couple how they both had issues with confidence and discipline but now feel very empowered.

Fizza Abid, a cricket coach and manager of the women's cricket team, said: "The couple seemed really happy to be there and asked what other sports the children liked. Kate asked how much sports helps these young people and we told her how much it helps."

 

[Savak]

Not sure what was the point of this excercise, its not like Cricket is an alien game to the British

 

[Mamoon]

You can see the fear in their eyes. Very irresponsible of the British Government to allow any royal to visit such an unsafe country. ECB should take a stand and outright say that our cricket players are more important than the future king and the Duchess of Cambridge. The British Government has no idea how dangerous Pakistan is, I mean if esteemed cricket bodies like Bangladesh and India flat out refuse to even think about touring Pakistan and cricketing rockstars like Dickwella, Dinesh Chandimal and Lakmal feel unsafe in Pakistan, those biased political agendas are definitely more reliable than the British Government's assessment of security in Pakistan.

Saltiness will not help restore international cricket in Pakistan.

The royal family was not attacked in Pakistan. The Sri Lankan cricket team was. Our security measures for a royal visit have not proved to be inadequate in the past, but the same cannot be said about cricket tours.

If the royal family gets attacked they won’t return for a century.

 

[Mamoon]

Not sure what was the point of this excercise, its not like Cricket is an alien game to the British

It probably is to the royal family. They were attending the Wimbledon final while England were playing the World Cup final at Lord’s.

 

[SensiblePakFan]

Shoudve taken them to a hockey stadium instead.

 

[Bewal Express]

Saltiness will not help restore international cricket in Pakistan.

The royal family was not attacked in Pakistan. The Sri Lankan cricket team was. Our security measures for a royal visit have not proved to be inadequate in the past, but the same cannot be said about cricket tours.

If the royal family gets attacked they won’t return for a century.

Attacked because of the incompetence of SS and AZ. The security was so poor that they attackers could have stopped for tea and coffee and still carried on. Are these the competent guys you are on about?

 

[Paka Lahori]

Saltiness will not help restore international cricket in Pakistan.

The royal family was not attacked in Pakistan. The Sri Lankan cricket team was. Our security measures for a royal visit have not proved to be inadequate in the past, but the same cannot be said about cricket tours.

If the royal family gets attacked they won’t return for a century.

The Royal couple hold much more weight than just a normal cricket team. I mean no one who Malinga is around the globe but everyone know who the Duke and the Duchess are.If such high figures are able to come to Pakistan without a worry in their mind than why not other teams? It is just a propaganda against Pakistan and things will stay like this for VERY LONG TIME. I do not see it changing.

 

[Mamoon]

The Royal couple hold much more weight than just a normal cricket team. I mean no one who Malinga is around the globe but everyone know who the Duke and the Duchess are.If such high figures are able to come to Pakistan without a worry in their mind than why not other teams? It is just a propaganda against Pakistan and things will stay like this for VERY LONG TIME. I do not see it changing.

It is about perception. The Royal family has faith in the security measures in Pakistan because they have never been attacked. However, cricket boards and players do not trust us because of what happened to Sri Lanka in 2009.

I am sure Pakistan right now is capable of even hosting a World Cup without trouble, but it is very difficult to convince boards and players because the risk outweighs the benefits. There is very little to gain from touring Pakistan but potentially a lot to lose.

If it is a propaganda than we deserve that propaganda for not taking adequate measures in 2009. We relaxed and paid a heavy price. We should not forget that apart from Australia, other teams were willing to tour Pakistan during the 2000s in spite of our involvement in War on Terror, and everything that was going on in Afghanistan in addition to the several bomb blasts and terrorists attacks in Pakistan.

Up until the Sri Lankan attack, the general perception was the cricket teams and other sports teams in general will not be targeted by the terrorists. However, that perception was destroyed in 2009 and it is going to take a lot more than 10 years for things to go back to normality. We should be thankful that we have managed to host over a dozen matches in Pakistan during the last decade.

 

[PakLFC]

If it is safe for the British Royals to play in Pak then it is for the rest as well.