England expect James Anderson to be fit for selection for the second Test in Manchester.
Advertisement
However, it was last season when, by his own admission, he began to believe he could play at the highest level.
Stating that no one could beat his teammates when it comes to being rude, Riaz warned the Alastair Cook-led side that they wouldn’t be spared if a similar incident takes place again.
“Yes, Jimmy’s really close”, admitted Cook.
“So there’s a little bit of a doubt about it, and the selectors have decided it’s too much of a risk to go for it”.
“With the wickets and the skill he has got though of course it was a temptation to take that gamble”.
“He was fairly confident”, Cook said.
“Watching him bowl in Tests, especially in England was a thing of joy so I can’t not look forward to that”, said Sana Kazmi, an education consultant in Karachi.
But the First Test at Lord’s, the scene of his earlier disgrace, will be the first Test match since his ban and jail sentence for Amir.
Currently, Pakistan have a six-match unbeaten streak against England in Test cricket.
They would also hold all the series trophies available to them against their current eight Test opponents.
Woakes removed Shan Masood to end a fruitless opening hour of toil for England’s bowlers, after Pakistan won the toss, elected to bat and reached 76 for two at lunch.
Pakistan has a strong middle order in skipper Misbahul Haq fellow veteran Younis Khan and the in-form Asad Shafiq.
Preview: With England taking on Pakistan and India locking horns with the West Indies, the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test rankings may be heading for some major changes in the near future. But this will certainly be a hard match, with the tourists playing some good cricket of late, and they’re ahead of England in the ICC Test rankings.
“We will be tested but you always are. It’s the big story about this Test match, but I thought the way both sides played in the UAE (last year) that the spirit between us was different to in the past, and I hope we can carry that on and talk about the cricket”.
It was six years ago that Amir, new-ball partner Mohammad Asif and then-captain Salman Butt tarnished the reputation of Pakistan cricket with their involvement in a spot-fixing affair that saw the trio conspire to deliberately bowl no-balls during the 2010 Lord’s Test against England.
Advertisement
“But it takes you away from the most important thing – which is, you as a batter, that ball coming down”. So you try and block out all that external stuff.
