After defeating West Indies in the first-ever Test series post-coronavirus, England are all set to face Pakistan in their next red-ball challenge. Just like the Windies, Pakistan will also play the three-match Test series, starting from August 05 at the Old Trafford in Manchester.
On Wednesday (July 29), England National Selectors announced an unchanged English squad for the first Test against Pakistan. The Joe Root-led side will be hoping to repeat their recent performances.
At present, Englishmen Stuart Broad and Ben Stokes, are the leading wicket-takers and run-scorers, respectively in 2020. Broad has so far played 5 Tests in the current year, grabbing as many as 25 scalps with 10/67 being his best, which recently came in the third Test against the Caribbeans.
Stokes, on the other hand, has amassed 632 runs in 6 games with two hundreds and as many half-centuries. The 29-year-old all-rounder is also the second-highest wicket-taker after Broad with 17 scalps to his name.
Veteran paceman James Anderson would look forward to mark his presence in this series as he is just 11 victims away to reach 600 Test wickets landmark.
“After three Tests in quick succession against the West Indies, we now turn to an equally condensed Test series against Pakistan, with 15 days of Test cricket scheduled in a three-week period. Our 14-man squad is unchanged,” said National Selector Ed Smith.
“County cricket now restarts on Saturday, August 1. We want to have sufficient reserves inside the biosecure Test match ‘bubble’, but we may also want to give opportunities, where possible, for the reserves to play county cricket. As we seek the best balance here, England may make changes to the reserves during the three-match series against Pakistan,” added Smith.
All the three matches will be played behind closed doors, in a bio-secure environment and the squad and reserves will report to Emirates Old Trafford on August 2.
Here is England’s Test squad:
Joe Root (c), James Anderson, Jofra Archer, Dominic Bess, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Sam Curran, Ollie Pope, Dom Sibley, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.
Here are the Reserves:
James Bracey, Ben Foakes, Jack Leach, Dan Lawrence.
