After recuperating from a hamstring injury, captain Ben Stokes was chosen to the England squad for the second Test against Pakistan, which begins on Tuesday in Multan. Stokes sustained the injury two months ago, missing the three-match home series against Sri Lanka and last week’s first Test, which the visitors won by an innings. Durham seamer Matthew Potts also returns to the squad for the first time since the Lord’s Test against Sri Lanka in late August. Seamers Gus Atkinson and Chris Woakes are resting. “Look, it’s got to be sensible,” talismanic all-rounder Stokes said on Monday, after being certified fit after bowling in the nets since before the first Test.
“I play as a third seamer. “I’m available to bowl and obviously when I sense the time is right for me to maybe come on and make an impact there won’t be any doubts in my mind that I can come on and bowl.” When asked if he could have played exclusively as a batsman, the 33-year-old skipper replied: “Those were the sorts of thoughts that ran through my mind at home before we came out. “I’d written a few teams down with me, not bowling, and it just didn’t work.”
England won the first Test, also at Multan, by an innings and 47 runs on Friday, with Ollie Pope guiding the team in Stokes’ place. England won spectacularly thanks to Harry Brook’s 317 and Joe Root’s 262. Pakistan were the first side in Test cricket’s 147-year history to lose by an innings after scoring more than 550 runs in their first innings.
England XI for the second test:
Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith, Brydon Carse, Matthew Potts, Jack Leach, Shoaib Bashir, and captain Ben Stokes