Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat in the first Test against England at Lord’s on Thursday.
As expected, Pakistan’s Mohammad Amir returned for his first Test appearance since the infamous ‘spot-fixing’ match against England at Lord’s in 2010.
Misbah-ul-Haq is leading the national team in the Test series while Azhar Ali and Sarfraz Ahmed will lead Pakistan team in ODIs and Twenty-20 respectively.
Toss: Pakistan won the toss and chose to bat first #ENGvPAK pic.twitter.com/67uSzX0PcX
— PCB Official (@TheRealPCB) 14 July 2016
Pakistan and England have faced each other in 23 test series from 1954 to 2006 as England hosted 13 times, Pakistan were hosts 8 times and on 2 occasions series was played in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). England were victorious 9 times, Pakistan won 8 times and 6 times series was drawn.
77 test matches have been played between both teams so far, as England won 22 matches, Pakistan won 18 and 37 matches were drawn. At Lords ground, both came against each other in 13 tests, as 4 times England won, 3 times Pakistan won and 6 matches were drawn.
Pakistan fielded three left-arm quicks on Thursday (today) in Amir, Wahab Riaz and Rahat Ali, with leg-spinner Yasir Shah completing a four-man attack.
This was Pakistan’s first series in England since 2010 and Thursday’s match was the 42-year-old Misbah’s first appearance at Lord’s.
England had already named their side on Wednesday, with Nottinghamshire quick Jake Ball given a debut in place of James Anderson, England’s all-time leading wicket-taker.
Anderson, although eager to prove his fitness following a shoulder injury, was left out of England’s squad for this match even though coach Trevor Bayliss and captain Alastair Cook were reportedly keen for him to be included.
Ball has taken 37 first-class wickets at an average of just 22 so far this season.
Before the start of play he was presented with his Test cap by his uncle and former England wicket-keeper Bruce French.
England, who recently won a three-match home series against Sri Lanka, recalled Gary Ballance to their batting line-up after Nick Compton opted to take time out of cricket.
Joe Root was set to fill Compton’s place at number three — even though his Test average as a top three batsman is under 34 compared to the mark of more than 63 batting at four or five.
Ballance was due to bat at number five.
An initially sunny day at Lord’s would have encouraged Misbah to bat first although the skies had clouded over a touch after he won the toss.
But so good have the pitches been at Lord’s this season, that all of Middlesex’s County Championship matches at the ground have ended in draw.
This is the first of a four-Test series.
England: Alastair Cook (capt), Alex Hales, Joe Root, James Vince, Gary Ballance, Jonny Bairstow (wkt), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Stuart Broad, Steven Finn, Jake Ball
Pakistan: Mohammad Hafeez, Shan Masood, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Misbahul Haq (capt), Asad Shafiq, Sarfraz Ahmed (wkt), Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Amir, Yasir Shah, Rahat Ali
Umpires: Kumar Dharmasena (SRI), Joel Wilson (WIS)
TV umpire: Rod Tucker (AUS)
Match referee: Richie Richardson (WIS)
