(WS News) – England announced their playing XI, which includes Durham seamer Brydon Carse, who will be making his test debut.
Left-arm spinner Jack Leach makes a return to the test set-up for the first time since the India tour in January, while opener Zak Crawley rejoins the team after fully recovering from a broken finger sustained during the summer.
Fresh from their 2-1 victory at home against Sri Lanka, England will be favourites in the three-match contest against a Pakistan side smarting from a 2-0 whitewash by Bangladesh last month.
England batter Joe Root, however, would not take any thing for granted.
“We know how good Pakistan is as a team and the ability and skill level they have. You got to have full respect for that,” Root told a press conference.
“In their own conditions, in particular, they’ve got a number of players that are match winners and that are capable of doing very special things in test cricket.”
England XI:
Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope (captain), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith, Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Jack Leach, Shoaib Bashir
