Manchester United's men's and women's teams will visit a country as a combined unit for the first time when they travel to Norway for preseason friendlies in July.

United's men will take on manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's hometown team Kristiansund on July 30 while the newly promoted women's side will face Valerenga the following day in Oslo, the Premier League club said on Thursday.

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"We want to hit the ground running and give ourselves a chance to challenge once the new campaign starts... the best way to do that is with some momentum behind you," Solskjaer said in a statement.

United finished a disappointing sixth in the Premier League to miss out on Champions League qualification next season. The women's team won the second-tier Championship 11 months after the team was relaunched having been scrapped in 2005.

"We can't wait, it's a fantastic city and it will be a great game. It'll be a good test for us to build into the new season. We're really thankful that they have invited us over to play in this game," women's team manager Casey Stoney said.

CHESTER, Penn. -- It's a good time to be a sports fan in Philadelphia. The city boasts a Super Bowl champion one year removed, an NBA franchise that has made the playoffs consecutive years and a Philadelphia Phillies team favored to make the World Series.

It's a city that is having a rebirth on the field and on the court, and the Philadelphia Union, tied atop Major League Soccer's Eastern Conference, are hoping to give fans from this city more reason to cheer -- beginning on Saturday, when they host the Portland Timbers (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN+).

This team might actually be able to stick in the long-term, too, after a decade of struggles and inconsistency. It is a bit "of positivity" says Jim Curtin, now in his sixth season as the Union's head coach.

"As a guy who lives in the city, you can feel it. There's a more positive feel to all things Philadelphia," Curtin told ESPN FC. "There's some real winning going on. It's a real positive, and it is good for us at the early stages of the year to be a part of that."

Philadelphia is a tough sports town, a place that turned booing into an art form and has perpetually embraced the underdog. From the likes of Vince Papale of the Philadelphia Eagles to the "Broad Street Bullies" of Philadelphia Flyers fame, fans in this city are concerned almost as much with the fight and passion within their teams as they are in the results.

In the Union, this city may have found both.

To say that this has been a resurgent year for the Union is to ignore the fact that this franchise, which joined MLS in 2010, has made the postseason just three times and has yet to win a playoff game. The fact that this team has just two winning seasons as a franchise wasn't a talking point during a reshaping of their roster this offseason.

The rebuild of the Union began last summer with the appointment of Ernst Tanner as sporting director. Tanner's experience in Europe with clubs like Red Bull Salzburg, Hoffenheim and 1860 Munich focused on youth development. The Union boast one of the best academy systems in the United States, but like nearly every MLS team, they aren't at the point where they can rely solely on their academy to field a gameday roster. So Tanner scoured Europe for unheralded players with a chip on their shoulder and something to prove.

Tanner plucked starting left-back Kai Wagner from the German third division and took a flyer on Kacper Przybylko, a Polish youth international coming off a bad foot injury last year. Despite the lack of star power, these imports have brought a different level of skill to the roster, but also have the fight that Philadelphia seems to embrace like no other city.

It's a meeting of need and mentality that has propelled the Union to the top of the East.

When Tanner first began texting Przybylko last fall about coming to MLS, he made no mention of the Union's middling past. Instead, the 26-year-old forward said the Union's sporting director made a pitch about creating a new future in Philadelphia for both player and club.

"Why would you talk about the past?" Przybylko said. "I don't think we would do that. We don't look at even our last game. It's all about tomorrow."

It is a mentality that permeates this roster, including the longest-tenured player on the Union.

Defender Fabinho has been with the club for seven years, a fan favorite as much for his overlapping runs as for his sheer tenacity and passion for the team. A veteran of two head coaches and multiple sporting directors, the Brazilian has seen the ups and many downs of the organization. Through it all, he has battled and clawed for the Union, a team the former Brazil U20 international said "has given me so, so much."

His 6-year-old son, Davi, was practically born at Talen Energy Stadium, he says with a laugh, noting in his next breath that the boy often cries when the Union lose.

"I think Jim and Ernst this year, especially Ernst because of his work with young guys ... they have made a difference," Fabinho said. "For me, [Ernst] is doing a lot of work with our team and especially in the beginning of the season.

"Now we can have success with Brenden [Aaronson] and a lot of the young guys are playing well and having success with the first team. Everyone asks what is the difference? For me, everyone is just giving something for this team."

Fabinho goes on, talking about the importance of competition for a spot in the starting lineup. It is a point that isn't lost on Curtin, who calls this "probably the deepest team this franchise has ever had."

There hasn't been much to cry about for Fabinho's son this year as the Union have reshaped their roster and their tactics. This was supposed to be a transitional year, Tanner told Curtin during the offseason, as the team would upend their style and philosophy. So far, it has looked anything but as the Union are legitimate contenders for the Supporters' Shield.

This Union has had erratic stretches each of the past three years, the only consistency seeming to be the exhaustion of their depth by season's end. The team has made the final of the U.S. Open Cup three times in recent years, but frustratingly lost each time.

There is hope that this time around, off to their best start in franchise history, the Union's early success will have some staying power.

The hope is that the young talent can blend with savvy signings made by Tanner. The Union historically aren't among the big spenders in MLS -- their payroll was bottom third in the league a year ago -- and they must be shrewd in how they acquire talent. The margin of error, given their payroll, is relatively small.

If the Union are going to join the likes of the area's other sports team in not just winning but also grabbing the hearts of Philadelphia sports fans, then it won't be a big-time signing that pushes them over the top. Despite being at the top of the conference, it hasn't been an easy sell at the turnstile as the Union currently are averaging 15,697 fans, down roughly 5 percent from last year's gate. Last weekend's sellout for a scoreless home draw against the Seattle Sounders is perhaps a reason for optimism that the fans are coming around.

The draw isn't just the winning soccer being played, but the collection of talent native to this market that is being integrated on the field. No team in Philadelphia boasts the integration of local talent as the Union, a direct fusion between their strong academy system and a tactical setup that values youth.

The blue-collar pressing and counter-pressing system implemented by Tanner this offseason requires a high work rate and the ability to log hard runs. Young players, Curtin says, are naturally an ideal fit for this style of play.

Already this year, the academy pipeline has paid dividends. Center-backs Auston Trusty and Mark McKenzie have been regulars for the Union since last year, and midfielder Aaronson, in his first year in the league, already has 10 appearances and nine starts.

More homegrown players are coming along, something that Curtin is not shying away from.

"Our way is to build with youth, to build with players from the Philadelphia area," he said. "The investment that we've made in our school, we can put that up against any club, not just in our country but the world."

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It might be an uphill battle for the Union to gain a toehold in this city. Philadelphia has never been associated as a hotbed for the sport despite a long history of playing soccer. It was the second-largest city in the United States to not have a venue host the World Cup in 1994, and they didn't receive an MLS team until the league's 15th season.

Baseball and football rule the roost in Philadelphia, with both franchises having developed deep and passionate fan bases that often go back generations. There is hope, however, that the Union can break through.

This is a city that, at the midpoint of the past century, turned to horse racing and boxing when the Phillies and Eagles were in the cellar of their respective leagues.

Curtin, who was born and raised in the suburbs of Philadelphia and went to college locally at Villanova, understands the pulse of the city. This is a team, he argues, that will be easy for Philadelphia to get behind.

"It's no secret that Philadelphia loves to win first, but they do like to do it as an underdog," he said. "They do have the mentality that respect isn't given in this city, it is earned. I think little by little, our club is starting to earn that within the league, which is important.

"I think that so far this year, our team has certainly been emblematic of the city. Even when people didn't expect much, we've had some of our best performances. We're an underdog city."

And a club that Curtin thinks might be overlooked in the city and the league, despite their hot start. Truthfully, he is fine with that.

"Still the damn underdog," Curtin said. "That's fine."

Tim Howard has experienced the highs and lows of goalkeeping, but it's the lows that stick in the memory. "You have to go to some dark places as a goalkeeper," the former United States and Manchester United No. 1 told ESPN FC.

Howard was feted by President Barack Obama and became a national hero after an incredible display during the World Cup defeat against Belgium in 2014, but his failure to hold on to Benni McCarthy's 90th-minute free kick during a Champions League second-round tie with FC Porto 10 years earlier gifted Costinha a decisive goal that knocked United out of the competition and convinced Sir Alex Ferguson that Howard was not up to the job of the club's first-choice keeper.

"In order to be successful in England, you've got to be great for the better part of five to 10 years," Howard said. "I had a great season at Manchester United, and then phew, I didn't see the field for two years, so it's not about having one or two good games."

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Being a goalkeeper is a thankless task, one that requires a certain kind of individual to don the gloves and pull on the No. 1 jersey. You can make 10 incredible saves -- "worldies" in goalkeeper parlance -- and then allow one to slip through your grasp and into the back of the net. Guess what gets remembered?

"In my experience of football, goalkeepers are more invested than outfield players in the psychological side [of the game]. And they need to be," said sports psychologist Dan Abrahams, who has worked with Premier League players and clubs. "They are individuals operating in a team setting, and there are times when their world can cave in if they make a calamitous mistake."

David James made high-profile mistakes during his early days at Liverpool, and once he was nicknamed "Calamity James," it stuck for the remainder of his career. You can only imagine how former France No. 1 Dominique Dropsy -- yes, that's his real name -- would have been treated in today's ferocious, unforgiving world of social media if he accidentally dropped the ball onto the toes of an opposition forward.

David De Gea, Manchester United's No. 1 keeper, knows all about the downside of the position these days. Rated by many as the best in the world, he has had a nightmare run of mistakes between the posts, dating to his unconvincing performances for Spain at last year's World Cup. His error against Chelsea on April 28 proved to be a key moment in United's late-season slide.

Loris Karius has had it even worse than De Gea. The German keeper made two huge mistakes that led directly to goals in Liverpool's 3-1 Champions League final defeat against Real Madrid in Kiev, Ukraine, last year, and even though it transpired that he was suffering from a concussion following a collision with Sergio Ramos earlier in the game, he became the target of merciless criticism.

Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool defended Karius in public at the time, but he hasn't played for the club since: He was shipped out on loan to Besiktas in Turkey, where his battle to rebuild his confidence has been marred by further mistakes. An error on his debut against Bursaspor in September resulted in Besiktas being held to a 1-1 draw, and he made another high-profile mistake to concede a goal during a Europa League defeat against Malmo in October.

But Karius' time in Turkey hit its lowest ebb in March, when after being jeered by fans following a goal conceded against Konyaspor, Besiktas coach Senol Gunes claimed publicly that "something is wrong" with the German.

Mark Bosnich, the former United, Aston Villa and Australia goalkeeper, saw Karius make those errors against Real, and it triggered memories of his young days at Old Trafford from 1989 to 1991 (he had a second stint at the club from 1999 to 2001). "What happened to Karius, it had been coming." Bosnich told ESPN FC. "He had made mistakes in games running up to the final, and you could see he was having a tough time. His manager, Klopp, should have helped him and taken him out of the firing line before that game and allowed him to rebuild his confidence and go again.

"When I was a kid at United, I saw the same happen to Jim Leighton, who was an experienced No. 1. He had a bad run, his confidence dropped, but Alex Ferguson played him in the FA Cup final, and he let in three and was dropped for the replay. Jim never really recovered from that, but sometimes a manager has to spot the problems before a big mistake happens. They have a responsibility to act before it can be too late.

"Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has that decision to make with De Gea," Bosnich said of the United manager. "I believe De Gea can come through this period, but at some point, the manager has to make a decision when a keeper is struggling."

Karius and De Gea have both been in the eye of the storm, but when you are the last line of defence, you need to be able to handle that, right?

"I always wanted to be a goalkeeper as a kid, but I also knew that you had to take the rough with the smooth," Bosnich said. "As a keeper, you have to have that mindset. Whenever I made a mistake, I would just apologise to my teammates in the dressing room and move on. That's how I was.

"My best game for United was against Palmeiras in the Intercontinental Trophy, when we became world champions in 1999, but I was the same after that. No big deal. Move on."

Not all goalkeepers are as mentally tough as Bosnich, however. The Australia international was an extrovert, criticised more for being too confident than for being riddled with self-doubt, while others have sunk after high-profile mistakes.

The England careers of the likes of Rob Green and Scott Carson ended before they properly began, thanks to costly errors in big games for their country. Scrutiny can be intense, especially in an era of all-angle replays, VAR and super-slo-mo analysis, but Howard said staying strong is crucial for every keeper who has, quite literally, dropped the ball. "You have to prepare for some dark days," he said. "You have to be strong, block out the media, the fans and even some of your own teammates when they're looking across the dressing room at you and you know they have no confidence in you.

"It's never-ending. Your self-belief can never waver. Confidence ebbs and flows, but self-belief is not something that ebbs and flows with performances. You have to always believe in yourself.

"That's where I think a lot of goalkeepers get it wrong. I wasn't stupid. I could look in the mirror and say, 'By the way, you haven't been playing very well,' but I never discounted the fact that I belonged there or that I could play."

Ben Foster also experienced the unforgiving spotlight that comes with playing in goal for Manchester United. He, too, fell afoul of Ferguson after one mistake too many. Massimo Taibi and World Cup winner Fabien Barthez went the same way as Leighton, Bosnich, Howard and Foster at Man United. Now Watford's No. 1, Foster said it has taken until his 30s for him to develop the strength of mind to deal with the pitfalls of his profession.

"United was definitely the wrong place at the wrong time for me," Foster said, recalling his time as a young keeper making his way at Old Trafford. "I wasn't equipped mentally to be able to deal with being at United at that time.

"Young goalkeepers now, they get taught how to play football, with training for this and that, but they don't get taught how to deal with stuff mentally. Personally, I think the mental side of the game is 50 percent, and the coaching and football side of it is 50 percent, but the mental side is completely neglected."

The influence of psychologists such as Abrahams points to football learning that goalkeepers need specific help, countering Foster's assertion that the area is overlooked. Abrahams said that coaching a goalkeeper to deal with adversity is the key.

"There are tools and techniques to help keepers cope with making mistakes," Abrahams said. "It's about staying focused, using key trigger words to themselves to control the situation, projecting positive body language and, crucially, not dwelling on the mistake."

Foster agrees, insisting that "if you ever think [about a mistake], that's when you're going to start getting problems."

How do you rebuild a keeper's confidence on Monday morning, after a costly mistake, when he heads out to train?

"Some keepers will want to focus on the mistake and work on it. Others will just want normality and repetition of what they always do," said Ant White, a member of Bournemouth's goalkeeping coach team. "But they have to know their identity, what makes them a top goalkeeper and remain focused on their strengths.

"A mistake could be a 1-in-5,000 incident, so you also make sure they don't forget the other 4,999 good moments."

Only De Gea truly knows whether his energy and focus are being drained by his run of mistakes. The same applies to Karius: Does he have nightmares about those two errors in Kiev? Ultimately, all players grapple with mistakes they've made, but it's different for a goalkeeper. They are exposed, in every sense.

"I almost don't see myself as a footballer, you know?" Foster said. "I just try to get in the way of a ball that's going in the back of a net. That's what it comes down to at the end of the day. But you're on your own.

"As a goalie, you're on your own, and you've got a deal with it on your own."

Sussex 422 (Jordan 166, Brown 156) and 339 for 4 dec (Salt 122, van Zyl, 81*, Brown 60*) drew with Northamptonshire 368 (Vasconcelos 83, Buck 51) and 288 for 6 (Rossington 69*, Cobb 68, Hamza 4-51)

It has been a tough start to the season for Northamptonshire, who had a chastening time in the 50-overs matches and came back to four-day cricket to be beaten effectively in three by Lancashire last week. Apart from the first session of the first day, they were behind in this game throughout, so to emerge with a draw will feel like a triumph of sorts.

Sussex led by 346 overnight but did not declare, adding 47 more in a four-over flurry that left a target for the home side of 394 in a round 90 overs minimum, which was a hefty demand but, with batsmen well attuned these days to scoring quickly, not so forbidding that Northamptonshire would not fancy themselves a little bit.

But the balance shifted away from them in two major lurches during the afternoon session.

After the early loss of Ricardo Vasconcelos, who nicked a textbook away-swinger from Mir Hamza into the hands of Philip Salt at third slip, Josh Cobb and Ben Curran had built a fairly sturdy platform by lunch, one down for 104.

Successful fourth-innings targets on the scale of this one rarely happen; indeed, only once in Northamptonshire's history, on this ground in 2010, when Stephen Peters made what was then a career-best 183 not out and a target of 394 to beat Middlesex was reached.

As the players re-emerged into the afternoon sun, there might have been a few home supporters wondering if something similar could happen, but such imaginings were beginning to seem more fanciful when Hamza's post-lunch spell claimed wickets in its second and fourth overs.

These setbacks might have raised fewer groans had they not been somewhat self-inflicted. Curran, who had played with careful application for his 29 before lunch as Cobb led the scoring, undid all that with an airy waft outside off stump, offering Ben Brown a routine catch. Cobb then succumbed to an awful misjudgment, shouldering arms to a ball he plainly believed would pass by only for it to swing back and knock down his exposed off stump.

Cobb made 62 and 68 in the game, which was not bad given that he was in the side only because of Alex Wakely's domestic mishap on the first evening. He knows it could have been more both times.

Much seemed to rest now on Temba Bavuma, in the second match of his stay here. He did not make the impact he would have liked on his debut against Lancashire at Old Trafford last week, where Northamptonshire were soundly beaten, but here was a situation in which to make a name for himself. As those before him had demonstrated, there were no demons in the pitch, even after four days of sunshine, and there were runs to be had quickly against a Sussex attack lacking the injured Ollie Robinson, in which only Hamza had been consistently tight.

An experienced batsman now, with 36 Tests for South Africa on his CV since his historic debut in 2014, Bavuma's first scoring shot was a gorgeous cover drive for four off Hamza. Rob Keogh, his new partner after Cobb's demise, has been in good form. Perhaps there was still room for a little optimism among the fourth-day stalwarts.

It was pretty much gone, though, after one over accounted for both of them midway through the session. Unlike Hamza, Chris Jordan had been impressive only occasionally (in his bowling, at any rate) in this match, but came up with something fast and straight for Keogh, who looked to work it to leg but was beaten for pace as the ball thudded into his front pad.

The real calamity came three balls later. Bavuma played Jordan back down the pitch. There was not much pace on the shot but Bavuma somehow saw a single in it, even though Adam Rossington, the new batsman, plainly did not.

The stand-in skipper anchored his bat behind the crease but Bavuma was halfway down before he knew he had to turn back. By then, David Wiese had swooped in from mid-on and had the ball in his hands, with enough time to pitch his throw on a long-hop length and watch it follow a gentle arc into the off stump with the South African still out of his ground.

At 162 for 5, the chance to win the game had gone. Frustratingly, Northamptonshire had scored quickly enough to be well up with the required rate, but the number in the wickets column was a clear message that they needed to change their focus to survival. All afternoon, anyone dozing off in the sunshine was liable to be disturbed regularly by the crash of ball against advertising boards. The five overs before tea, though, allowed for uninterrupted slumber.

Thirty-seven overs remained in the final session, with 182 more runs needed. Too many, it seemed, although there was enough of a nagging doubt in Brown's mind, it appeared, that he was never quite committed to all-out attack.

Hamza was the most likely matchwinner. His third spell, immediately after tea, yielded a wicket with his first ball when late movement did for Luke Procter, snaffled by the diving Brown, but he gave way again after only four overs and did not return until the new ball became available with the race virtually run. No one else possessed his consistent threat.

Rossington and Brett Hutton, the other concussion sub, ploughed on with a resolution that will have pleased their head coach, David Ripley, who saw too little at Old Trafford. It had been a good contest, one which Sussex, having been in such a strong position after Jordan and Brown's colossal performance on the first day had swung the game so heavily in their favour, might feel they should have made more of.

South Africa women 127 for 1 (Lee 75*, de Klerk 37*) beat Pakistan women 125 for 5 (Dar 28, Ismail 1-16) by nine wickets

A collective bowling performance followed by opener Lizelle Lee's third fifty-plus score in four T20Is helped South Africa women clinch the five-match series 3-2 against Pakistan women in Benoni. After limiting Pakistan to 125 for 5, Lee and nineteen-year-old Nadine de Klerk put on an unbroken century stand for the second wicket to usher the hosts home.

After being inserted, Pakistan lost Umaima Sohail to Shabnim Ismail in the fourth over and meandered to 30 for 1 in the Powerplay. Javeria Khan (20), captain Bismah Maroof (23), Nida Dar (28) and Aliya Riaz (26) all moved into the twenties, but none could find a gear high enough to hurt South Africa. The hosts used six bowlers, with only Masabata Klaas going wicketless. She was also the only frontline bowler to concede over eight runs an over. Ismail was the most economical of the lot, ending with 1 for 16 in her four overs.

Although Pakistan hit 19 off their last two overs, they ended with only 125 for 5. The target appeared much slimmer when Lee got going with a brace of boundaries off Riaz in the second over of the chase. Two overs later, he opening partner Tazmin Brits was dismissed by Nida Dar, but Lee moved to a 40-ball fifty and cut loose soon after, hitting Riaz for three fours in a row in the 15th over. Then, with South Africa needing five off five overs, she smashed a six off Dar to secure victory. Lee was well supported by de Klerk who contributed 37 in an unbroken 100-run stand that came at a run-rate of nearly nine.

While Lee was named Player of the Match, Dar was adjudged the Player of the Series for backing up her 192 runs with five wickets. Lee rounded off the series as the top scorer, making one run more than Dar's tally. Nobody took more wickets than Dar - Ismail and Moseline Daniels also claimed five wickets each.

Virat Kohli, India's captain, says it is a great compliment to have been name-checked by Jofra Archer as the wicket that England's newest fast-bowling recruit most wants to claim in the forthcoming World Cup, and believes that he has an "X Factor" that justifies his fast-tracking into England's 15-man squad for the tournament.

However, Kohli also suggested that the batting line-up that has lifted England to No.1 in the world rankings is "obsessed" with becoming the first team to post 500 runs in a single ODI innings, and warned that they would struggle to play their full-throttle expansive game when the pressure ramps up at the sharp end of the tournament.

Sitting next to England's captain, Eoin Morgan, at the World Cup captains press conference in East London, Kohli took his chance to fire the first shots in the psychological battle between the two teams that most pundits believe are the likeliest to contest the World Cup final at Lord's on July 14.

India's captain has recent experience of World Cup glory, having played a role in the 2011 victory over Sri Lanka in Mumbai, whereas England have never won the tournament in 11 events dating back to 1975, and have not won a knock-out match since reaching the final in 1992.

And while England's batsmen were in ominous form going into this year's event, having become the first ODI side in history to put up 340-plus totals in four consecutive matches, en route to a 4-0 win over Pakistan, Kohli hinted that life would not be quite as simple for Morgan's big-hitters when there's a trophy at stake, as they discovered in 2017 when losing to Pakistan in a low-scoring Champions Trophy semi-final in Cardiff.

"They [England] seem to be obsessed with getting to 500 before anyone else," Kohli said. "They smash it from ball one and for the full 50 overs.

"It could be pretty high-scoring, but 260/270 is going to be as difficult to get as chasing 370, 380 in a World Cup."

The World Cup's history bears out Kohli's warning. Only twice has a total more than 300 been posted from the semi-finals stage onwards - although it was Australia who twice achieved the feat against India, in the final in 2003 (359 for 2) and the semi-final in Sydney in 2015 (328 for 7).

"I don't see too much high-scoring in the later half of the tournament," Kohli added. "Some teams might get on a roll, but you'll see 250 defended as well as because of the kind of pressure that comes with it.

"When you get closer to the knockout phases, that is going to bring greater pressure and no-one is going to go gung-ho from ball one. Generally teams will find a way, but I see pressure playing a massive role."

For that reason, England may well be grateful for the added firepower that Archer adds to their bowling ranks, in the wake of a quietly impressive first bow in international cricket against Ireland and Pakistan earlier this month.

Speaking on Sky Sports in the wake of his naming in the final 15, Archer had said that he wanted to get Kohli's wicket above all others - not least because, in their four IPL clashes to date, his Rajasthan Royals team-mate Shreyas Gopal had bagged the big one before he could get him in his sights.

"I'd quite like to get Virat out, because I wasn't able to get him in the IPL because I think a leggie [Gopal] got him in every game he played," he said.

"Did he say that?" asked Kohli at the captain's event. "That's news to me, news to Morgs as well. I don't really focus on these things.

"I take a lot of pride in performing well for the team and making a big impact on each game I play so, if Jofra said that, it's a big compliment as he himself is a world-class bowler.

It is high praise coming from a player of Kohli's calibre, who will go into the World Cup as the No.1 ranked batsman in both Test and ODI cricket, following a stellar run of form that has included nine 50-over hundreds since the start of 2018.

And though their head-to-heads at the IPL have been limited, Kohli has seen enough of Archer's talents with the white ball to know what he will offer to England's bowling attack.

"The way he has come through at the IPL over the last couple of years, I have seen him and he's played all round the world and done well, so there's a good reason why he's been fast-tracked into playing for England in a tournament like the World Cup.

"I think he's going to be the X-factor because he has all the skillsets and he's very different from anyone else. He can generate a lot of pace which can be intimidating and you don't really expect that from his run-up. He's just a great athlete and I'm sure the England team will be delighted to have him and he will be exciting to watch at the World Cup. I personally will be watching his bowling because whatever I've seen of him he is really impressive."

Wives and family members of Pakistan's players at the World Cup will not be permitted to stay with them for the duration of the tournament in England. According to a new PCB policy, any cricketer's family members who wish to travel along with the player will have to make their own arrangements throughout the event.

ESPNcricinfo understands that the decision is intended to keep players focused on the task at hand, without the distraction of families around them. Only Haris Sohail has been allowed special dispensation on personal grounds. The players' wives and families were allowed to stay with them during the bilateral series against England, but the team manager has since informed the players about the new policy.

This is a departure from standard operating procedure. Previously, Pakistan's players insisted on having their wives during series abroad, and they were allowed to share hotel rooms. Pakistan are set to begin their campaign against West Indies in Nottingham on May 31 to kick off a World Cup that will see them play nine games across seven venues before the semi-finals.