Washout at Headingley denies England, Pakistan valuable World Cup prep

The first T20I between England and Pakistan was called off even before the scheduled start time after heavy, persistent rain drenched Leeds for much of the day. Puddles had begun to form on the ground long before the umpires first came out to inspect conditions, and it did not take them much time to determine there was no point delaying the inevitable. With the cutoff time for T20 World Cup crew declarations on Saturday - the day of the second T20I of the series in Birmingham - this was really the last opportunity for the two sides to give their players a run-out prior to settling their crews. The downpour implies Britain are denied of the main practical opportunity to give the returning Jofra Bowman a game on schedule, and however they will be allowed to make injury-related changes after the May 25 cutoff time - they will eventually need to pursue an underlying choice on his incorporation without the advantage of watching him play a cutthroat match. Addressing Sky Sports a while later, Jos Buttler, Britain's skipper, recognized it had been a "disappointing" day for the players. "We've had a great several days' prep and everybody was truly invigorated for the series," he said. "I think simply putting the Britain pack back on and playing cricket in Britain is astounding. So it's truly disheartening today, not to play, yet three matches still to anticipate." Looking forward to the World Cup in the Caribbean and the USA one month from now, Buttler recognized it was a "exceptional development" that had required some adaptability from the players, especially those, for example, himself that could some way or another have been engaged with the IPL end of the season games, where his group Rajasthan Royals beat Regal Challengers Bengaluru in the Eliminator on Wednesday evening. "I feel that is the reason we felt it was great to attempt to get the players generally together for this series," he said. "My closely-held conviction is there ought to never be any worldwide cricket that conflicts with the IPL. Be that as it may, my main goal right now is being Britain skipper and attempting to get ready decently well for a world competition. I've generally shared with Keysy [Director of cricket, Loot Key] I would be returning as Britain skipper. He's settled on the decision on the other players." Pakistan, in the interim, stay the only one of the 20 taking part sides at the World Cup not to have disclosed their temporary crew for the competition. The PCB had explicitly highlighted this game while pronouncing their expectation to keep the crew declaration, saying it would be finished after the main T20I between the sides, despite the fact that Hasan Ali was set free from the crew prior in the day to satisfy his area manage Warwickshire. Yorkshire's climate, however, splashed out Pakistan any desires for getting in one final glance at the players prior to securing in the heading out party to North America. The sides are planned to play three additional games prior to flying out for the World Cup - at Edgbaston on Saturday, Cardiff on Tuesday, and The Oval seven days on Thursday.