Karachi, January

Pakistan said on Thursday they will keep national team head coach Waqar Younis in place until the end of their England tour later this year.

Waqar’s two-year contract expires in May, but Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shaharyar Khan said his team management would continue until September. “We have not taken a final decision on the contracts of the team

management but Waqar and other staff will continue until the end of Pakistan’s tour of England,” Khan told AFP.

Pakistan play four Tests, five one-day internationals and a Twenty20 on the tour which starts June 29. After two warm-up games the first Test starts at Lord’s from July 14. Waqar took over as head coach in June 2013, and under him Pakistan have lost six of their nine one-day series.

They have shown improvement in Tests, however, winning four of their six series, losing one and drawing the other. “I appreciate that Pakistan Cricket Board and its chairman Shaharyar Khan have trust in my ability. I will always do my best to lift the team,” Waqar said.

The tour will be Pakistan’s first to England since their infamous tour in 2010 when three players — then Test captain Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir — were charged for spot-fixing during the Lord’s Test. All three were jailed in Britain.

However, they completed their five-year bans in September last year and are eligible to play at international level. Amir has since been selected in Pakistan’s limited over squad for the tour of New Zealand starting with the first Twenty20 on January 15. Pakistan will play three Twenty20 and as many one-day internationals on the New Zealand tour.