Even though Old Trafford was not a sellout, and the first two days at Edgbaston are not full, it is still a world away from the empty, rattling stadiums that often greet them in the UAE.
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Misbah is 4/1 with Betway to be Pakistan’s top scorer at Edgbaston, which looks like a great price.
Pakistan, on the other hand, have played seven Tests in Birmingham, beginning in 1962, of which they have lost four and are yet to win.
Finn was dropped from the second of the four Tests in the series. Some review work and net practice must have been carried out before the second Test, because the same batsmen were playing with a much straighter bat and completely took the sting out of Yasir’s attack. Sadly, that still feels a long way off for most opposition despite continual hopeful talk of tours resuming and Zimbabwe going for their limited-overs trip a year ago. “Without that, it’s really hard for the Pakistan Cricket Board and it can hurt them financially also”, the Test skipper added. However, Pakistan has the added difficulty of so much global cricket being lost to the country. On the two occasions when teams batting first did manage a draw, the Tests were affected by rain.
Despite making 67 against Worcestershire in the tour match over the weekend, facing Test bowlers is a different proposition. Naturally, Mickey Arthur, the Pakistan coach, called for a better effort from his top-order batsmen but was tight-lipped about possible changes to the side. Only Trent Bridge, with an average of 26.20, has played better for them. “From my experience, sometimes lots of people telling you you’re a good player and that it’s only a matter of time before things turn is the last thing you want to hear”. Only in 1971, when Zaheer Abbas made 274, Mushtaq Mohammad and Asif Iqbal added centuries, and the magnificently moustachioed pace bowler Asif Masood took nine wickets in the game, did England struggle.
The surprise package of the summer has been Woakes, the Warwickshire allrouder who has taken 18 wickets in two Tests, as well as providing vital lower-order runs. He has made 691 runs with three hundreds – including scores of 155 not out and 183 – and three fifties in ten innings on this ground. The series is evenly poised at 1-1.
The 27-year-old has long known his prospective Test colleagues believed in him – but after six matches, the last an unrewarding misadventure at Centurion in January which brought him a solitary wicket at the cost of 144 runs, his statistics were unsustainable.
294 The highest individual score in Tests at Edgbaston, made by Cook against India in 2011. “It’s just a matter of getting it out of myself and getting a run in the side”.
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But it was Sohail who had the first chance to show his skills after Pakistah captain Misbah-ul-Haq won the toss and fielded on an overcast morning.
