Pakistan vs England Test series begins today

After two extraordinary intra-crew warm-up games, Pakistan seems prepared to attack the bull by the horns as they face England, who are basking in a 2-1 Test series win over West Indies. The touring side has some strong, in-form players in their squad and Pakistan cricket team captain Azhar Ali is hopeful of posing a major challenge to confident England during the first Test commencing today (Wednesday);11:00am local, 10:00am GMT at Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester.

After two impressive wins upon West Indies in the last fortnight, England will plan to waste no time as they meet Pakistan, a side against whom they haven't won a Test series at home since 2011. Pakistan, on the other hand, is in the fifth position and even a solitary win would put them level on points with New Zealand. 

Head coach Misbah-ul-Haq has indicated at playing with two spinners, and it would dampen Fawad Alam’s chances of playing the first Test. It would, however, leave the lower middle order somewhat vulnerable, in spite of Shadab Khan’s competence with the bat, and with a 16-man squad, there’s plenty of flexibility to work around it.

England, on the other hand, has announced an unchanged 14-man squad, which routed West Indies in the three-match Test series. In his pre-match press conference, Root suggested one of Mark Wood or Jofra Archer would play, while Stuart Broad’s place in the playing party appears certain. The final balance of the side will be determined by Ben Stokes’ ability to bowl, having been managing a quad niggle during the West Indies series. If England errs on the side of caution, then Zak Crawley will again be the fall guy, with the rest of the middle order moving up one slot.

It would be a surprise to see Pakistan veer from the expected plan of three seamers - fiery youngsters Naseem Shah and Shaheen Afridi, seamer Mohammad Abbas and spin duo Yasir Shah and Shadab Khan. Naseem (17) and Afridi (20) have a combined age lower than England’s record wicket-taker James Anderson, who turned 38 last week, but Pakistan Test captain Azhar is confident they can earn the right to be ranked alongside the country’s greatest pairings.