{"id":8769,"date":"2026-03-03T23:35:04","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T18:05:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/03\/england-lions-arrive-back-in-uk-from-uae\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T23:35:04","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T18:05:04","slug":"england-lions-arrive-back-in-uk-from-uae","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/03\/england-lions-arrive-back-in-uk-from-uae\/","title":{"rendered":"England Lions arrive back in UK from UAE"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ByTimothy AbrahamBBC Sport Journalist<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Published3 March 2026, 17:49 GMT<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Updated 9 minutes ago<\/p>\n<p>The England Lions squad and staff have arrived back in the UK following the cancellation of the rest of their limited-overs series against Pakistan Shaheens in the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n<p>England&#x27;s development team &#8211; coached by Andrew Flintoff &#8211; had been in Abu Dhabi for the 50-over leg of their white-ball series.<\/p>\n<p>They had been scheduled to play the second of those matches on Sunday, but it was cancelled after <a href=\"\/news\/articles\/cx2dyz6p3weo\">missile strikes across the Middle East<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Iran launched attacks throughout the region, including in the UAE, in response to American and Israeli strikes across its territory.<\/p>\n<p>The party of 25 England Lions players and coaches boarded a commercial flight out of Abu Dhabi on Tuesday and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said they have now safely touched down in the UK.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;We are grateful to all those who provided assistance and advice while the squad were in Abu Dhabi, and who helped ensure their safe return,&quot; the ECB said in a statement. <\/p>\n<p>&quot;Our thoughts are with all those currently still in the Gulf who are seeking to return to the UK, and we hope they are able to get home soon.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>While most of the Iranian attacks appear to have been intercepted so far, some of the <a href=\"\/news\/articles\/c875rjd990go\">UAE&#x27;s most iconic buildings have been damaged<\/a> &#8211; including the Fairmont The Palm hotel in the luxurious Palm Jumeirah area and the Burj Al Arab hotel.<\/p>\n<p>Dubai International Airport has also been hit along with Abu Dhabi&#x27;s Zayed International Airport.<\/p>\n<p>The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said the decision to call off the series with England &quot;was mutually agreed&quot; as they make arrangements to bring home their contingent.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;The safety, security and wellbeing of the players and support staff remain the highest priority for the PCB,&quot; added the PCB.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;The PCB remains in constant contact with the team management and players to ensure appropriate measures are in place to bring team back to Pakistan.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>England won the three-match T20 series against Pakistan Shaheens 3-0 and were 1-0 up in the five-match 50-over series.<\/p>\n<h2>Related topics<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/sport\/cricket\/teams\/england\">England Men&#x27;s Cricket Team<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/sport\/cricket\/teams\/pakistan\">Pakistan<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/sport\/cricket\/teams\/england-lions\">England Lions<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/sport\/cricket\">Cricket<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>More on this story<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/sport\/articles\/cl5q9dk9jl3o\">\n<p>Get cricket news sent straight to your phone<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Published16 August 2025<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>England Lions arrive back in UK from UAEImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, England Lions won the T20 series against Pakistan Shaheens in Abu Dhabi last monthByTimothy AbrahamBBC Sport Journalist&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":8770,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-decor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}