English cricketers operating as overseas players at the Pakistan Super League were preparing to make hasty exits from the Twenty20 tournament.
Amid collective concerns about getting stuck abroad as the coronavirus pandemic takes hold across the globe, the PSL were understood to be organising flights back to the UK for the likes of the World Cup-winning trio Jason Roy, Moeen Ali and James Vince plus other England internationals such as Tom Banton, Alex Hales and Chris Jordan, reported Daily Mail on Friday.
The PSL, held across the cities of Karachi and Lahore, still has 10 days left to run but all 15 Englishmen participating could be back home by Saturday.
The competition will continue without them, with matches played behind closed doors, which is a prospect facing the Indian Premier League should it go ahead later this month.
Meanwhile, Somerset have culled their tour of Abu Dhabi after Worcestershire’s pullout left them with just a two-day match versus Essex on their schedule.
Had they opted to proceed they would have flown back early but, explaining the decision, the club’s director of cricket Andy Hurry said: 'We have been monitoring the situation on a daily basis over the last couple of weeks, ensuring that we didn’t lose sight of the value and benefit that preparing for the season on grass overseas would give us.
‘We have endeavoured to give ourselves as much time as possible to make this best-informed decision, allowing us to consider our position as more information has become available on a daily basis.