ENG vs PAK | England name an unchanged 14-man squad for first Test
After wrapping up the West Indies series 2-1, Ed Smith has announced an unchanged 14-man squad that would face the visiting Pakistan side for the first Test in Manchester. Smith also confirmed that the three-match Test against Pakistan would be played behind-closed-doors in a bio-secure environment.
Ahead of the first Test in Old Trafford on August 5, Englandās national selector Ed Smith announced that England would take on Pakistan with an unchanged 14-man squad that took on West Indies earlier this week. After losing the first Test at the Rose Bowl, the hosts came back in the series with a win in Manchester before wrapping up the series at the same venue a week later.Ā
Joe Root will continue to captain the side as James Anderson, Jofra Archer, Dominic Bess, Stuart Broad, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes and Mark Wood have retained their places in the squad. On the other hand, after playing in the first Test, the 34-year-old Joe Denly has been frozen out of the squad with Ollie Pope and Zak Crawley retaining their places in the squad following impressive displays during the second and third Test against the Windies.Ā
"Our 14-man squad is unchanged. County cricket now restarts on Saturday, August 1. We want to have sufficient reserves inside the bio-secure Test match bubble national,ā selector Ed Smith said in a statement.Ā
"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."
England Test squad: Joe Root (captain), Ben Stokes, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Dom Sibley, James Anderson, Jofra Archer, Dominic Bess, Stuart Broad, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes and Mark Wood.