England to tune-up for 2024 T20 World Cup with series against Pakistan

England and Pakistan will play a four-match T20I series in May next year building up to the 2024 men's T20 World Cup in the Caribbean, the boards of the two countries confirmed on Tuesday (July 4). The finalists from the last edition in Australia will play games in Leeds (May 22), Birmingham (May 25), Cardiff (May 28) and London (Oval, May 30) before flying out to West Indies for the marquee ICC event.

Babar Azam's team will also play five T20Is against Netherlands and Ireland in the build up to their contests against England. The details of those series will be announced at a later time.

England and Pakistan had also partaken in a seven-match series in Pakistan ahead of the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia, a tightly-contested series that England edged 4-3 before going on to beat the same opponents in the final of the World Cup at the MCG.

Incidentally, the women's sides of both the countries will also be simultaneously engaged in a bilateral series of their own comprising three T20Is and as many ODIs, the latter as part of the ICC Women's Championship. In fact, Heather Knight's team will play across 14 venues in total - including Edgbaston, The Oval, The Ageas Bowl and Headingley - before finishing their season with three ODIs and five T20Is against New Zealand Women between June 26 and July 17.

England Men will begin their Test summer upon their return from the World Cup. They'll host West Indies (July 10-30) and Sri Lanka (August 21 - September 10) for three Tests each. Australia, who are currently engaged in the Ashes series, will return to the UK in September next year for white-ball games (3 T20Is, 5 ODIs)