Published: Aug 02, 2016, 02:00 PM (IST)
Edited: Aug 02, 2016, 02:46 PM (IST)
It has been a while since two Tests between evenly matched England and Pakistan. While Lord’s witnessed swings of fortunes as dramatically as one can get only in cricket, England blasted Pakistan away at Old Trafford. Pakistan touched hearts at Lord’s, but their no-show in Old Trafford set the tongues wagging once again over the lame topic of subcontinental teams not being competitive enough in England. However, after a short break which saw England players taking time off and a struggling touring side working desperately to get things in order by playing in a tour match, the rivalry will resume again at Edgbaston with serious question over Pakistan’s middle-order that looks brittle. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: Pakistan vs England 2016, 3rd Test at Edgbaston
It will not be an exaggeration to say Younis Khan and Azhar Ali’s ordinary performances have been the biggest disappointments for Pakistan. Perhaps that is the only reason why the series is tied 1-1. The pitch at Old Trafford remained true to its nature — England piled up close to 600 and Pakistan failed to cross 300 even once in their two innings, and Younis and Azhar’s failures added to Pakistan’s woes.
But it is not the case that Pakistan have too much to worry about. Indeed, their batting flopped at Old Trafford and the bowlers could not trouble the opposition. Had Pakistan bowled similarly to England and held on to the catches offered the outcome could have been different.
Nevertheless, after yet another solid show in the tour match against Worcestershire, Azhar Ali will once again be expect to make runs. Time is running out for the right-hander to make a strong impact, and the runs in the tour matches have only made him look poor given that he has scored 26, 101*, 145 and 81 in practice games and 7, 23, 1 and 8 against England.
Younis’ ballet dancing (or something similar to it) in the middle is not amusing anymore, and the sudden loss of form of the legendary batsman en route retirement is one of the reasons behind Pakistan’s nervousness. He has changed his technique significantly since arriving in England, but the tweaking has not resulted in runs and Pakistan, who will be seeing this as a tw0-Test series henceforth, will be having high expectations from the venerable batsman.
England will be more than enticed to dish out a proper ‘English wicket’ and keep hurting Pakistan’s not-so-confident-looking batsmen. Chris Woakes is having a dream series, which meant James Anderson and Stuart Broad have not been needed to fire all cylinders. Moeen Ali may have been ordinary so far, but he has earned England’s confidence enough to continue playing a few more Tests as a specialist spinner, especially after his 5 wickets at Old Trafford.
Ben Stokes’ injury has opened one slot and England will be mulling over the idea of getting in Adil Rashid. But it will not make sense to have an additional spinner if the track has grass on it, in which case one of Jake Ball or Steven Finn may get to have another crack at Pakistan.
England’s batting will once again be overly dependent on Alastair Cook and Joe Root (though Jonny Bairstow has had a good run this summer). If Pakistan manage to get these two cheaply on two occasions, they have a realistic chance of edging ahead. Gary Ballance is yet to prove he is past his shortcomings and James Vince has been unwontedly flashy, and Alex Hales has lost the form and rhythm he gained against Sri Lanka earlier this English summer.
A lot will depend on the kind of pitch England will prepare. Historically, Edgbaston has not been a turning wicket which means England will back themselves to list four fast bowlers — Anderson, Broad, Woakes and one of Ball and Finn. If England do so, Moeen will have to play his usual role of containing the opposition.
Squads:
England: Alastair Cook(c), Alex Hales, Joe Root, James Vince, Gary Ballance, Jonny Bairstow(wk), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Stuart Broad, Steven Finn, Jake Ball, Ben Stokes, Adil Rashid, James Anderson
Pakistan: Mohammad Hafeez, Shan Masood, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq(c), Asad Shafiq, Sarfraz Ahmed(wk), Yasir Shah, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Aamer, Rahat Ali, Sami Aslam, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Rizwan, Imran Khan, Zulfiqar Babar, Sohail Khan.
Time: 15.30 IST | 11.00 local | 10.00 GMT
(Devarchit Varma is senior writer with CricketCountry. He can be followed on Twitter @Devarchit)
