England lay foundations as Babar & co loom large
The Cricket Paper|August 02, 2020
IT will be a case of the same again for England this week after they named an unchanged 14-man squad for the opening Test against Pakistan at Old Trafford.
Chris Stocks
England lay foundations as Babar & co loom large

There will be just eight days between the end of the series-winning victory against the West Indies in Manchester last week and the start of this campaign against Azhar Ali’s team at the same venue on Wednesday.

Do not expect many changes from the XI that beat the Windies by 269 runs last Tuesday, with man-of-the-series Stuart Broad retaining his place in the attack following his ten-wicket match haul with James Anderson likely to join him.

Jofra Archer should also keep his place, although England could be tempted to go with Mark Wood given the Durham fast bowler has not been seen since the opening Test of the summer against the West Indies in Southampton at the start of last month.

Chris Woakes, too, will also be hopeful of remaining in the team after his impressive performance last week, including a five-wicket haul that helped wrap up victory on the final day against the Windies.

England, though, may rejig the balance of their team after dropping a batsman in Zak Crawley for that previous Test after a thigh injury prevented Ben Stokes from bowling.

Stokes should be fit enough this week to resume his all-round duties. That means if Crawley returns it could be spinner Dom Bess who makes way given he didn’t bowl a single delivery last week in a match dominated by seam.

This story is from the August 02, 2020 edition of The Cricket Paper.

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This story is from the August 02, 2020 edition of The Cricket Paper.

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