England Surprise with Selection and Performance as Bazball Continues to Impress

When England announced their side for the first Test a number of questions went around. They went with only one frontline spinner, Jack Leach in the subcontinent and batted very deep with Liam Livingstone slated to walk in at number eight. A number of white-ball stars found themselves in the Test squad, with Ben Duckett and Harry Brook among those impressing. The concept of batting deep is being introduced in Test Cricket, with England having frontline batters up until number eight.

While the batting line-up and its depth is an interesting point of its own, the bowling attack looks just as interesting. The English bowling attack for a subcontinent tour has three pacers and one frontline spinner. Out of the group, they have Ollie Robinson, a 40-year-old James Anderson and Ben Stokes for pace while Jack Leach handles the spin unit.

75 overs into the first game, England’s style of selection though looks like a masterstroke. Helped by a dead pitch, England’s job has been very easy. The openers came out with a lot of positivity, continued by some more positive cricket from the middle-order. The backing of Zak Crawley worked as he came good along with the likes of Ollie Pope and Harry Brook. The finish though was another interesting point. Ideally, as the day comes to a close teams prefer to play slow and survive for the next day. Ben Stokes though came out and played a traditional cameo as he finished with 34 off 15, taking on the bowlers in the last two overs of the day.

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Bazball, with Ben Stokes and his boys coming out all guns blazing is turning out to be handy even in Pakistan. It is true that the pitch has been very helpless, but the job is still being done well with England being challenged by heat and illness. With 506 on the first day, the Test is already in their command. They may not want to give Pakistan too much time on the field, and are likely to move up a notch with their aggression, giving England a huge score and a lot of time to completely demoralize Pakistan.

Pakistan, without experience and bowling depth are in some trouble. They left out Yasir Shah, their leg-spinner, and the decision to do so seems to be haunting them as his replacements are proving their inexperience. The bowling is likely to face some more nightmares in the next few hours. With Shaheen Shah Afridi injured and Hasan Ali’s unpredictability reaching annoying levels, Pakistan are left with fair few options.

Naseem Shah is their most experienced and even he was taken for runs in the first Test. In Mohammad Ali, Pakistan found a decent bowler, He managed to maintain a nagging line, but inexperience and a flat pitch resulted in him finishing the day poorly. The second day is set to start in a few hours. Ben Stokes is off to a flier and Harry Brook is batting on 101. Will Jacks and Liam Livingstone are still left to come. If either manage to hang around for a session England are assured of reaching some incredible heights, squashing Pakistan’s hopes of a fightback in the Test.