Birmingham: The eighth edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) will feature fifteen English cricketers, including some big names who have played not only in T20 Internationals and T20 leagues around the world but also in the English domestic T20 Blast. I have also performed consistently. “And” The Hundred Tournaments.
Many of them have been regular appearances in previous editions of the PSL. However, some of the big names who have featured in the previous editions will be out of PSL 8 due to England’s Test tour of New Zealand in February, followed by England’s ODI and T20I series in March. Will visit Bangladesh.
The month-long tournament, now regarded as one of the biggest T20 cricket festivals in the world, is scheduled to begin on February 13 (today). But not all of these English players will be involved in the entire tournament as some are replacing compatriots and players from other countries who are set to miss the first few games due to commitments with the national teams.
The English players in this edition of PSL are Alex Hales, Jason Roy, Sam Billings, James Vince, Will Smead, Moeen Ali, Tom Curran, Tymal Mills and Liam Dawson.
Jordan Cox, Richard Gleeson, Tom Kohler Cadmore, Will Jacks, Gus Atkinson and Adam Rossington will also play in this edition.
Players such as Hales, Vince, Dawson, Mills and Roy have featured several times in previous editions of the tournament, while Curran, Cox, Gleeson, Atkinson and Rossington are playing for the first time.
Islamabad United have signed the most English players, five in total, while Lahore Qalandars and Quetta Gladiators have three English players in their squads. Two English cricketers will play for Peshawar Zalmi and Karachi Kings. Multan Sultans are the only team without an English player in their squad for this year’s tournament.
Four players are from Surrey County Cricket Club (CCC) while two are from Kent CCC and Hampshire CCC. This year’s edition of the PSL also features one player each from Nottinghamshire, Warwickshire, Lancashire, Yorkshire, Northamptonshire, Sussex and Somerset counties.
Islamabad United
Islamabad United will feature five English cricketers in this edition of PSL, the most for any franchise. Topping the list is England opener Alex Hales who has been selected in the platinum category. This will be his fifth appearance in the league.
Hales, who hails from Nottinghamshire CCC, played for United in 2018, 2019 and 2021 and for Karachi Kings in 2020. He decided to skip England’s tour of Bangladesh in March this year to participate in the league. The right-handed batsman has scored 355 runs at an average of 44.38 with a strike rate of 148 in the last edition of the tournament.
Other English players who will feature for Islamabad United include Moeen Ali (Warwickshire), Tymal Mills (Sussex), Tom Curran (Surrey) and Gus Atkinson (Surrey).
In 2020 Moeen played for Multan Sultans in PSL.
Tymal Mills is participating in the T20 tournament for the fifth time. He has previously played for Quetta Gladiators in 2017 and 2020, Karachi Kings in 2018 and Peshawar Zalmi in 2019.
Lahore Qalandars
Defending champions Lahore Qalandars have signed three English players for this year’s PSL, including Liam Dawson in the gold category. Dawson is one of the players who has featured in the earlier editions as well. Hailing from Hampshire CCC, Dawson has represented Peshawar Zalmi in 2018 and 2020 and Islamabad United in 2022.
Other English cricketers in the Qalandars squad are Sam Billings (Kent) and Jordan Cox (Kent). Billings, who was part of Islamabad United from 2016-2018, will replace Afghan all-rounder Rashid Khan for the first few games.
Quetta Gladiators
Gladiators have retained exciting English opener Jason Roy in the diamond category. Rai, known for his brilliant batting, played for Quetta Gladiators in the 2018, 2020 and 2022 tournaments while he was part of the Lahore Qalandars squad in the 2017 edition.
Last year, Surrey CCC’s Roy started his PSL campaign with a bang, scoring a century in his first game of the tournament against champions Lahore Qalandars. He scored 116 runs in just 57 balls, hitting 11 fours and eight sixes and that too against a bowling attack that included the likes of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf and Rashid Khan.
Quetta Gladiators have also retained Will Smid in the silver category. Somerset’s Samid, who made his PSL debut last year, joined Quetta Gladiators at the last minute in place of opener Vince for the first few matches, which turned out to be a golden opportunity for him.
Surrey’s Will Jacks will bat for the Gladiators as a substitute for a few games. Jacks, who featured for Islamabad United in the previous edition of the PSL, was also part of the England Test squad that toured Pakistan last year on his Test debut.
Peshawar Zalmi
In this year’s edition, two English players are included in Peshawar Zalmi’s squad. Zalmi has retained Tom Koehler Cadmore in the silver category. Cadmore from Yorkshire also played for Quetta Gladiators in the 2018 edition of the PSL.
Lancashire’s Richard Gleeson will also join Peshawar Zalmi as a substitute.
Karachi Kings
English opener Vince has been taken by Karachi Kings in the diamond category. The Hampshire captain, who led the Southern Braves to victory in the inaugural edition of “The Hundred”, will be part of the PSL for the fourth time. Vince represented Kings in 2016, Multan Sultans in 2019 and Quetta Gladiators in 2022.
The other English cricketer signed by Karachi Kings is Northamptonshire’s Adam Rossington who will be Vince’s cover.
PSL 2023 Opening Ceremony
The PSL 2023 opening ceremony will take place today at the Multan Cricket Stadium ahead of the tournament opener between defending champions Lahore Qalandars and hosts and 2021 champions Multan Sultans.
A total of 34 matches will be played during 33 days in the tournament which will be played in Lahore on March 19.
