England v Pakistan: first Test, day one – live!

Azhar Ali says they’re going in with three seamers and two spinners.

England have chosen an unchanged XI – which presumably means Ben Stokes won’t bowl. Root says he’d have batted first but looking forward to exploiting the overhead conditions.

You’ll remember that England have lost eight of their last ten first-Tests of a series, including against Pakistan in 2018.

Rob riffed on it here

Also, that England haven’t beaten Pakistan in a Test series for a decade.

The first email of the day pings in:

“As long as it remains dry, the cricket should start on time. I’m very excited to watch Babar – and the continued growth of England’s opening pair, who are doing exactly the job asked of them (batting time, establishing a platform). Burns and Sibley are both averaging more than 42, since the Ashes/debut.”

Good stat James Debens! Though I’m nervous about Burns and Sibley opening this morning against this Pakistan in these conditions. Toss is imminent.

And here is the pitch. Note the grassy outfield – it hosed it down last night (as it has much of the last month).

At Old Trafford, Ben Stokes is currently undergoing a bowling fitness Test.

And in other news, this series will be used as a trial for the TV umpire to call front-foot no-balls for the first time in Tests.

And for those of you who want to relive the astonishing ODI against Ireland last night, here’s Vic Marks purring with delight.

If yesterday was Ireland and last week was West Indies, today must be Pakistan – and there can be no better way to start a grizzled Wednesday morning in Manchester than a Test match against them – the first of three, followed by three T20s.

Pakistan last played a Test in February, so are without England’s intense match practise, but they have been quietly going about their business in the UK since the end of June. A journalist who watched them at both their warm-up matches at Derby said the batting was very reliant on Babar Azam but their bowling was a match for England’s.

The man – boy – causing the greatest excitement is Naseem Shah, the 17 year old with the flowing side-on action that Michael Vaughan has compared to Fred Trueman’s. Just 17, he can bowl at 90mph, swing the ball both ways and already has a Test hat-trick, against Bangladesh earlier this year. One fears for England’s stumps. He is complemented by Shaheen Afridi, who so impressed in last year’s World Cup.

Babar Azam is the pick of the batting. His last tour of England in 2018 ended after just one innings when his wrist was broken by a ball from Ben Stokes during 68 at Lord’s. He is now the third ranked batsmen in ODIs and the sixth ranked in Tests – and has been compared by his captain to Steve Smith and Virat Kohli in terms of talent. A stint with Somerset last summer will have helped his acclimatisation to English conditions.

England, who announced a 14 man squad unchanged from the final Test against West Indies, are waiting on Ben Stokes’ fitness to bowl. And another milestone beckons – James Anderson needs just 11 wickets to reach the 600 mark. And the weather? Blowy, damp and grey, though no rain is forecast until this afternoon.