Pakistan have firepower to trouble England
England know another sluggish start to a Test campaign could prove costly as they go in search of a first series win over Pakistan in a decade. Wednesday sees a three-match contest get underway with the first Test at Old Trafford. And while England can point to recent series victories over most of their rivals, their last such success against Pakistan was back in 2010.
England have lost the first Test in eight of their last 10 series — including during last month’s 2-1 win over the West Indies that marked international cricket’s return from the coronavirus lockdown.
Both of Pakistan’s past two series in England — 2016 and 2018 — ended in draws, which should encourage the tourists this time even though they go into the first Test on the back of just a couple of intra-squad warm-up fixtures compared to their ‘match-hardened’ hosts.
Pakistan coach Misbah-ul-Haq accepted that how his batsmen coped with James Anderson and Stuart Broad — who now both have more than 500 Test wickets each after Broad reached the landmark against the West Indies — would go a long way to determining the outcome of the series.But the former Pakistan captain was also excited by a pace attack that includes the youthful promise of teenage rising star Naseem Shah as well as the accurate Mohammad Abbas, and towering left-armer Shaheen Shah Afridi.
Pakistan, however, could still deploy two spinners at Old Trafford in Yasir Shah and Shadab Khan.
Meanwhile England must decide whether to stick with four quicks in their XI after Ben Stokes couldn’t bowl in the West Indies decider because of a quad injury.
The star all-rounder was, however, reported to have bowled with good pace in the nets on Monday.