England will once again be facing a dilemma in terms of selection for picking a balanced pace attack as they ave now announced an unchanged 14-man squad on Wednesday for next week’s first Test against Pakistan. Joe Root and his men applied a rotational policy with their frontline fast bowlers during the 2-1 series win over the West Indies, which ended on Tuesday, which made competition for places intense.
Stuart Broad responded by taking 16 wickets in the last two Tests after being dropped from the first Test, while Chris Woakes ended the series with five wickets in the West Indies’ second innings.
James Anderson is England’s leading wicket-taker in Test cricket, the raw pace of Jofra Archer and Mark Wood has swung matches in England’s favor in the past while Sam Curran has helped in some way or the other in each and every Test he has played in at home.
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Talking about the same, national selector, Ed Smith said, “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. County cricket now restarts on Saturday 1st August.”
He further added, “We want to have sufficient reserves inside the bio-secure 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.”
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The second Test starts at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton on August 13, with the third match taking place at the same venue from August 21. The Tests are taking place behind closed doors due to the coronavirus pandemic.
England 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.
Reserves: James Bracey, Ben Foakes, Jack Leach, Dan Lawrence.
