Jos Buttler says the England team is making a donation, to be matched by the ECB, to those affected by the Pakistan floods; England kick off the T20 series against Pakistan in Karachi on Tuesday 20 September, as they prepare for the World Cup in October.
England white ball captain Jos Buttler hopes they and Pakistan can play an exciting series of cricket to lift the spirits of millions suffering from devastating floods in the country.
The English team arrived on Thursday for their first tour of Pakistan in 17 years to play seven T20s starting next week and prepare for the T20 World Cup next month in Australia.
“These are difficult times facing the people of Pakistan with floods,” Buttler said. “We hope we can, by being here, liven that up a bit and lift our spirits by watching us play cricket.
“As a team we are making a donation that will also be matched by the ECB to try to do a small part to help people who need it right now.
“Hopefully being here will shed a light on that too and people can see that people need help and hopefully some exciting cricket games will be a little tonic to lift the spirits as well.”
The massive floods have affected more than 33 million people and displaced more than half a million people who are still living in tents and makeshift shelters. The water has destroyed 70 percent of the wheat, cotton and other crops in Pakistan. At one point, a third of the country’s territory was submerged.
Buttler also said that England was playing to “honour” Queen Elizabeth II after she passed away last week.
“Her Majesty The Queen has passed away, we are all deeply saddened by that,” Buttler added. “I think we’ve seen the reaction, especially at home in England, to her passing and I think cricket did a fantastic job at the Oval.” [Test match vs South Africa] to honor her.
“The way that game was played, those were some special scenes that were seen on TV. So we hope to honor her in our own way as a T20 team and play in a way to do that.”
Most of the English players, including Buttler, are touring Pakistan for the first time. But the remembered Alex Hales, Moeen Ali and Liam Dawson have appeared in the Pakistan Super League.
Ben Stokes, Chris Jordan and Liam Livingstone have all skipped the tour but are part of England’s T20 World Cup squad.
Buttler is recovering from a calf injury and is likely to miss a few games, with Ali expected to lead the team in his absence.
“We’re in a bit of a unique situation as a team with some guys out injured, who will be fit in time for the World Cup, but not necessarily here. There are some guys who are still getting back into top form as well, then we’ll have to manage them throughout this tour. And obviously the main goal for everyone is to get to Australia fully ready to go to the World Cup.”
England were due to play three T20s in Pakistan ahead of the T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates last year, but canceled the tour after New Zealand aborted their white-ball tour due to security concerns.
The ECB’s decision was described as disrespectful on the part of the Pakistan Cricket Board, which worked tirelessly to convince other leading nations such as South Africa, the West Indies, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka and Australia to tour after of the 2009 terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore.
The port city of Karachi will host four T20s from September 20-25, with the rest in Lahore from September 28-October 2.
