England, after recently vanquishing West Indies in a tri-match Test series, is laden with confidence and that will benefit the home team against Pakistan on Wednesday at Old Trafford, Manchester. On the other hand, Pakistan has been away from cricket for a long time. Their inexperienced bowling and deficient batting department will expose them further on the English soil.
English cricketers leave no stones unturned to take advantage of home conditions. Especially the performance of James Anderson and Stuart Broad, each of whom has scalped more than 500 wickets, becomes more lethal. Broad proved against the West Indies that hardly anyone could use the conditions better than him. Especially his nib backer balls wreak havoc. He used such balls heavily against the Caribbeans. At the same time, Anderson did not get that much swing against the WI for which he is known. However, Chris Woakes has played the role of a good associate bowler. They also have a bounce and good movement.
Apart from this, Jofra Archer’s short pitch bouncers are very dangerous which can bring Pakistan`s top order batting on its knees. At the same time, there is a lack of experience in the Pakistani bowling. Left- arm fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi and right-handed Naseem Shah are young and talented but have no experience of playing in England. However, Pakistan coach Misbah-ul-Haq has made it clear that Naseem Shah alone has the potential to destroy England`s batting order.
Mohammed Abbas and Sohan Khan have ample experience. Sohail Khan’s rhythm would be difficult to maintain as his participation in cricket has been intermittent. Mohammed Abbas would be pretty confident with the ball as he took eight wickets in the Lord’s test two years ago and pushed the England batsmen to the back foot. Moreover, if Wahab Riaz returns to Test cricket, he can use his experience to prove to be an asset for his team.
Pakistan has the upper hand in spin bowling. The team`s chief coach Misbah-ul-Haq may feature two spinners in the first test. He says that he will take a final decision in the morning after looking at the conditions of the pitch and the weather. Pakistan has an experienced leg spinner Yasir Shah, who played a key role in Pakistan`s victory four years ago with ten wickets in the Lord`s Test.
Apart from this, there is another leg spinner Shadab Khan and left-arm spinner Kashif Bhatti in the team. If Kashif plays with Yasir, Pakistan`s attack will be diversified but Kashif has not played a Test match yet. At the same time, England has the only spinner Dom Bess who is more all-rounder than a bowler, and so far his performance has been bland.
As far as batting is concerned, the England team has recovered from all its weaknesses. Before the start of the series against WI, they only had Ben Stokes and Joe Root to bat with confidence. England was struggling with the rest of the opening problems, but by the end of the series, the opening pair of Rory Burns and Dom Sibley got into the rhythm and they did well to overcome this long-standing problem of England. The two middle-order batsmen who could not play as Ollie Pope and Jose Butler also hinted to return to form by making a terrific comeback in the third and final Test against WI.
If the captain Joe Root is unable to score, then there is not much to worry about this because he is a talismanic player and can return to form anytime. Pakistan`s batting is largely dependent on Azhar Ali and Babar Azam.
Babar, who has scored four centuries in the last five Tests, is in tremendous form. Azhar Ali scored a century in the Birmingham Test four years back. The rest of Shaan Masood and Abid Ali’s recent form is good, but their inexperience may give them a tough time in England.
If Pakistan’s batting manages to initially survive the diversified English attack, then surely this series can prove to be very interesting. According to the weather report, there are a couple of passing showers expected early morning on the first day but the rest of the day is expected to remain sunny. If the showers do not wet the outfield too much, we could see an entire day play on the first day of the first Test.