Dates proposed for England's trip to Pakistan

England's winter series in Pakistan could be a throwback to more leisurely tours of the past, after a proposed itinerary was drawn up by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) that would involve three Tests and five one-day internationals in the space of two months.

Although the plans are still very much in their early stages, the initial proposal from the ECB is that the Tests should take place in the major Test centres of Karachi, Faisalabad and Lahore - as has been the case on each of England's last three tours, dating back to the winter of 1983-84 - with the team arriving in the country on October 25 and flying home in time for Christmas on December 22.

At this stage there are no plans for any fixtures at the potential trouble spots of Peshawar and Quetta, in the north and western regions of the country, and according to a PCB spokesman, the five one-dayers could be split between Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi.

If the itinerary is agreed upon, it will mark a distinctive split from the recent trend of England tours. England shoehorned five Tests and seven one-dayers into the space of 58 days in South Africa this winter, and that's not to mention the preamble to the series, which included additional one-day matches in Namibia and Zimbabwe beforehand.

Their first-class warm-ups were limited to a solitary defeat against South Africa A at Potchefstroom, after which England were roundly accused of being "undercooked" going into the first Test. Though Duncan Fletcher, the coach, dismissed the suggestion by pointing to similar itineraries in the Caribbean and Sri Lanka in the previous winter, it is clear that the need for proper acclimatization is now being considered.

"The reason for the long nature of the tour is that the ECB had requested us to schedule at least two three-day games before the start of the Test series," said a PCB spokesman, "and also a one-day practice game before the five one-day internationals."

Assuming the tour goes ahead without any problems - and England are expected to carry out security checks of the proposed venues ahead of the team's arrival - it will be England's first of Pakistan since the winter of 2000, when Nasser Hussain's team won the series 1-0 after a thrilling run-chase in near darkness during the third and final Test in Karachi.

That tour, by comparison, lasted from October 16 to December 11, and included two fewer one-day games than have been scheduled this time around.