Cricket Update: England announces its test squad for Pakistan Series
England has announced its team for the upcoming series against Pakistan. England will play a four test match series against Pakistan starting from 29th July. Eoin Morgan and Ajmal Shehzad have successfully retained their positions in the test squad. Surprisingly Ravi Bopara, who looked in brilliant form, was dropped from the team. Bopara recently scored back to back centuries for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Essex-c783 and played a decent innings in last ODI against Bangladesh. First test will take place in Trent Bridge, Nottingham.
Steven Finn also returns back to the team because of his good performance against Bangladesh. Finn bowled some quality spells against Bangladesh in the last test series. Shehzad also retained his position because of his inspiring spell against Bangladesh in last ODI. Ajmal only bowled four over’s in last ODI against Bangladesh because of his ankle problem. His four quality over’s were good enough for selectors to give him another chance. Shehzad was selected ahead of Tim Bresnan. Ajmal now must be eyeing place for Ashes squad. It will be a litmus test for Shehzad if he wants to cement his place in test squad of national team.
Geoff Miller, the National Selector for England said, "We have picked a very strong squad for the first Test against a Pakistan side that will be high on confidence following their recent win against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746. We've been encouraged by the form shown by a number of England players involved in County Championship matches this week and those that are coming back from injury or rest, such as Kevin Pietersen, have been working very hard ahead of the first Test next week."
Trent Bridge has an old habit of supporting quality seam bowling. Ajmal was preferred on Bresnan because of Nottingham conditions, which are likely to support seam bowlers. Ajmal in recent times has more successfully bowled with control and accurate seam bowling. England will face a tough task because of Pakistani seam bowlers. Pakistan has one the best bowling attacks of the world. Only a week ago, Australian’s strong batting line up was seen hopping in crease against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755’s brilliant bowling attack. Australian team was back in the pavilion after scoring only 88 runs in the first innings. Mohammad Aamer, Mohammad Asif and Umar Gul will lead Pakistani bowling attack. All three pacers have had superb bowling spells in recent times. 18 years old Mohammad Aamer is especially dangerous with his pace and control. Aamer received man of the match award in Headingley for his career’s best haul of 7 for 106.
Tim Bresnan had impressed everyone with his stamina, disciplined line and length bowling but it was the reverse swing of Ajmal that caught the eye of the selection committee. Shehzad has shown that he can bowl reverse swings once the ball is old. He show-cased his reverse swing skills to perfection in Old Trafford on his test debut. Selectors think Ajmal fits in perfectly for first change after opening spell is over.
English bowling attack will be led by James Anderson and Stuart Broad. England will heavily relying on James because of his ability to swing to devastating effects when conditions are favourable. Stuart Broad, who recently lost his step-mother is full of confidence because of his recent performances, he recently picked up his career best figure of 8-52 in County Championship.
Morgan was lucky to get another chance since Ian Bell was ruled out the series because of an injury. Eoin Morgan failed to convert his good starts into big scores against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747. He only managed to score 44 and 37 runs against a weak bowling attack of Bengali Tigers. Paul Collingwood will be making a comeback in the test squad after he was rested for two test matches. Kevin Pietersen is another English player who will be making a comeback against Pakistan. Pietersen was rested because of injury problems and will now make a comeback in the test squad.
England’s squad for the first test match in Trent Bridge is: Andrew Strauss (capt), Paul Collingwood, Kevin Pietersen, Alastair Cook, Eoin Morgan, Matt Prior (wk), Ajmal Shehzad, Jonathan Trott, James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Steven Finn, Graeme Swann,
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