Pakistan have won the toss and elected to field first against England on Day 1 of the third test against England at Edgbaston cricket Ground, Birmingham. The match will commence at 3:00pm PST.
After choosing to field first, skipper Misbah-ul-Haq is keen to defeat Alastair Cook-led England in the third of the four-Test series here.
Coming into the match after a 330-run drubbing at Old Trafford, the Pakistan Test skipper has made two changes in the line-up.
Twenty-year-old opener Sami Aslam replaces Shan Masood and Wahab Riaz makes way for right-arm fast-bowler Sohail Khan.
The series is levelled at 1-1 with a historic win for Pakistan at Lord’s only to be followed by a crushing defeat at the hands of the host at Old Trafford.
England has a remarkable record at Edgbaston. Out of the last 11 tests that the side has played on the ground, they have won seven and drawn 3, the only defeat coming in 2008 when Graeme Smith bashed the hosts when South Africa played them. The defeat also forced Michael Vaughn to resign from his captaincy.
It is also the same ground where England historically beat Australia 11 years ago in a historic test. Six years later the side made their third highest total against India, 710-7.
Pakistan, on the other hand, does not have such an impressive record at Edgbaston. Out of the seven tests that they have played at Birmingham starting from 1962, they have lost 4 and are yet to win a match there. It is the same ground where six years ago, Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad bowled them out for 72, their fifth-lowest total in a test match.
READ MORE: Play without fear of losing, Imran Khan advises team ahead of Birmingham test match
England has had to call on Steve Finn in this test to replace an injured Ben Stokes. Last year Finn was very effective against Australia when he took away most of the middle order in the second innings to set England up for the win at the Edgbaston.
Pakistan’s bowling was no match for England’s batting in the last test with Joe Root who made 254 and 71 not out and Alastair Cook who made 105 and 76 not out in the last test to win by 330 runs.
Pakistan’s coach Mickey Arthur says they have a different game plan for the dangerous pair while Misbah has said that Pakistan needs to ‘pull down England’s pillars’, while referring to Cook and Root.
READ MORE: Misbah wants Pakistan to pull down England top players
Pitch and Weather: The picturesque Edgbaston ground has been under a heavy cloud cover over the past few days, with reports of irregular showers coming in a day ago.
The last time the two Test nations contested in the longer format here, Pakistan were bowled out for a paltry 72 in the first innings that inspired Andrew Strauss-led England to a nine-wicket victory.
Teams
England: Alastair Cook (captain), Alex Hales, Joe Root, James Vince, Gary Ballance, Jonny Bairstow (wicketkeeper), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Stuart Broad, Steven Finn, James Anderson
Pakistan: Mohammad Hafeez, Sami Aslam, Azhar Ali, Younus Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Asad Shafiq, Sarfraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Yasir Shah, Mohammad Amir, Sohail Khan, Rahat Ali
Pakistan should forget about what happened in previous match and focus on this test match. If they are able to perform well in bowling and restrict host to low score then batsmen will definitely be full of confidence and can free their arms. Its a good opportunity for Pakistan to get 2-1 lead in the test series and improve their ranking in ICC Test ranks. Pakistan has got a good pace attack and Yasir Shah presence would help a lot. Am watching match right now on Fox Sports and might stay up till late at night if Pak bowlers keep taking wickets 🙂 … Fingers crossed….
Why didn’t Pakistan opt to bat first? Well Hafeez and Younis will now do what they have done so far.
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