England vs. Pakistan: Test Match Preview
After England thrashed Sri Lanka in all formats earlier this summer, they are about to face a stiffer test in the shape of a Pakistan side who are on their first tour to England in since the match-fixing scandal of 2010.
England First Test squad:
Cook (c), Hales, Root, Vince, Ballance, Bairstow (wk), Moeen, Woakes, Broad, Finn, Ball, Roland-Jones.
Pakistan Tour Squad:
Misbah-ul-Haq (C), Mohammad Hafeez, Shan Masood, Sami Aslam, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq, Iftikhar Ahmed, Sarfraz Ahmed, Mohammad Rizwan, Yasir Shah, Zulfiqar Babar, Mohammad Amir, Wahab Riaz, Rahat Ali, Sohail Khan, Imran Khan
The England squad which has been announced is one without some of the bigger names such as Jimmy Anderson, however, it should be more than suitable to get the job done against a ring-rusty Pakistan side who are trying to rebuild their international credibility.
The bowling attack should see a new weapon in this test which will either be Jake Ball or Toby Roland-Jones. Providing a breath of fresh air into the attack and may show us, we will be just fine when Anderson finally hangs them up.
Pakistan, on the other hand, are in somewhat of a rebuild. Just trying to find their feet as a touring side in international test cricket once again. Taking a couple of young guys with them such as Mohammad Rizwan and Shan Masood to give the side a more youthful flavour alongside the long term players such as Misbah-ul-Haq and Wahab Riaz. We may see a surprise or two with the Pakistan selections depending on how they see the games going later in the series.
Standout players to watch:
Joe Root: This man has taken the reigns as one of the best all format batsmen in the world and ran with it. After a slightly slower than usual ODI run against Sri Lanka we expect him to bounce back in a big way and score England some much sort after runs in his new role at number three.
Alistair Cook: We need to see a good batting performance once again from Captain Cook. He is a standout test captain, that has not been questioned, but consistent performances with the bat will be the only thing keeping him from being replaced by the young stars coming through the game at the moment. Batting at the top of the order is a definite skill and he has mastered it over his 10,000 run career.
Steven Finn: With the absence of James Anderson, Finn needs to step up into the wicket takers role and will be opening the bowling with Stuart Broad. Who will not change his role in this team. So the likes of Finn need to come up big and take 3/4 wickets to take that pressure of Stuart who is a restrictive bowler at the core.
Misbah-ul-Haq: The Pakistan captain and leader needs to show his class and start the batting off with a decent score. With a crop of young batsmen coming after him, they will need a platform to go on from to show their talents freely.
Mohammad Amir: After all of the controversy surrounding him in 2010 with the match fixing scandal, he will be hoping to return with a good test series here and show that he is welcome back into test cricket. It is still doubted if he is welcome back after ruining the integrity of the game. However he has a chance here to show he is deserving of his second chance.
First Test Prediction:
England will come away with a win on the fifth day. After centuries by Cook and Bairstow over the two innings providing the launch pad for Finn to take 10 wickets in the test match to knock over Pakistan in good fashion.