LAHORE: Pakistan on Sunday announced their playing XI for the first Test against England set to start at Multan Cricket Stadium on Monday (tomorrow). 

“This is our best playing XI […] Aamir Jamal’s inclusion will be beneficial. We have maintained our batting line-up to ensure consistency,” said red-ball captain Shan Masood while speaking at a press conference.

It is to be noted that three-match series is part of the ICC World Test Championship 2023-25 and will see the Men in Green eyeing a comeback in the longer format of the game after suffering a humiliating whitewash against Bangladesh last month.

Expressing his views on the upcoming match, Masood said that the visitors — who secured a 2-1 victory against Sri Lanka in September — have a balanced team and underscored the need to play strong cricket on the field.

Addressing England’s skipper Ben Stokes’ unavailability in the first Test, the captain said: “Stokes’s absence will definitely affect England, but their playing XI is still strong, he is one of the world’s best all-rounders.”

“England have good seamers,” he remarked.

“We have come close to losing in the past [….] A Test match is a five-day game, so you can’t have one strategy,” he added, noting that a rotation policy has to be introduced for workload management regarding the fast bowlers.

Suitable conditions for spinners, seamers

Meanwhile, expressing his views, England captain Ollie Pope said that the conditions were different in Multan and would help the spinners and seamers.

“It will be interesting to see how the pitch plays out […] The [team] plan depends on the pitch and will be chalked out accordingly, ” he said while speaking to the media.

Noting that England bowlers will try to get as many wickets as possible in these conditions, Pope underscored the significance for consistency in the performance of the spinners.

“We have two regular spinners meaning that we may not be required to test Joe Root’s skills [in bowling department,” he added.

“The Pakistan team, though not playing well recently, is a tough team nevertheless [and] with bowlers like Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah, we have to play good cricket,” remarked the England captain.

Playing XIs for first Test

Pakistan: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Saim Ayub, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan (wicket-keeper), Salman Ali Agha, Aamir Jamal, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Abrar Ahmad

England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope (captain), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith, Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Jack Leach, Shoaib Bashir

With memories of an astounding 3-0 series sweep in 2022, upbeat Ben Stokes-led England will play a three-match Test series against Pakistan starting on Monday.

England, currently ranked third in the world after winning five of their last six Test matches, take on a Pakistani team that is struggling after being humiliated by Bangladesh.

AFP Sport looks at some of the key talking points for the tourists ahead of the series, which starts in Multan.

Stokes to miss first Test

England last month wrapped up a 2-1 series victory against Sri Lanka without skipper Ben Stokes, but he remains the team’s undisputed leader and talisman.

The 33-year-old all-rounder misses the first Test after failing to recover from a torn hamstring and it remains to be seen whether he will bowl when he does return.

The inclusion of Stokes as a specialist batsman would alter the balance of the side England favoured in the recent Sri Lanka series, where they played five frontline bowlers.

The visitors could opt to replace one of their regular top order with the skipper but it is more likely they would play four specialist bowlers and rely on Joe Root’s off-spin to supplement the attack.

Stokes has not played for two months but he showed his worth against the West Indies, scoring three fifties in his last four innings of the series.

Bazball 2.0?

England’s tour of Pakistan in 2022 came in the first few heady months of the “Bazball” era — a method of all-out attack encouraged by Brendon McCullum, who had become coach earlier that year.

The visitors set the tone for the series on the first day in Rawalpindi, smashing a remarkable 506-4, with four men making centuries.

After England’s 4-1 series loss in India earlier this year, McCullum spoke about the need to “refine” their style and a less gung-ho approach of controlled aggression has paid dividends.

England demolished the West Indies 3-0 before beating Sri Lanka 2-1 on home soil.

“I think the style will work in Pakistan, for sure,” retired England bowling great Stuart Broad said ahead of the launch of Inside Lord’s, Marylebone Cricket Club’s new digital platform.

“It was a great tour to Pakistan in 2022. All the players really enjoyed it and ultimately, England’s batting group are wonderful players of spin.

“I think they’re really positive and aggressive, they can find the boundary and don’t get tied down by spin.

“England will have to play fast-paced cricket to force results over there because you generally do need five days to make something happen.”

Inexperienced squad members

The era of Broad and James Anderson is over for England, who are trying to build a new pace attack that can take the fight to India and Australia next year.

Chris Woakes is the senior paceman and enjoyed a superb summer at home but his figures in overseas Tests are poor, while express bowler Mark Wood is out of action.

Surrey seamer Gus Atkinson has enjoyed a remarkable start to his Test career, taking 34 wickets in his first six games.

But he, Matthew Potts and Olly Stone have just 19 caps between them and Brydon Carse will make his debut in Multan.

Aside from left-armer Jack Leach, who is back in the fold after being deemed surplus to requirements during the English season, the spin attack is also inexperienced.

Leach’s Somerset team-mate Shoaib Bashir has played just nine Tests while Rehan Ahmed has not featured since the India series, having made his debut in England’s memorable 2022 series win in Pakistan.

Broad warns that inexperience could cost the visitors.

“It’s very difficult to go into a Test match, particularly when Ben Stokes isn’t playing or not bowling with three very inexperienced bowlers because if it goes wrong and the spinner’s inexperienced you could lose a Test match in an hour,” he said.

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — A look at what’s happening around the New York Jets:

1. Party like it’s 1996: It was perhaps the ugliest season in Jets history — 1996, the year they went 1-15 under Rich Kotite. For older fans, it’s a haunting memory, best left buried in the recesses of the history books.

But, wait! Out of that muck comes this shiny nugget:

Despite the losing, the Jets scored three offensive touchdowns in four straight games that season, something they haven’t done since (the quarterback was Frank Reich, who would become an NFL head coach). Nearly three decades later, they will try to equal that feat Sunday after scoring three in each of the first three games.

By far, the Jets (2-1) own the longest active drought without a four-game streak of three offensive touchdowns, according to ESPN Research. We’re talking 18 years longer than the next-closest team — the Denver Broncos, whom they face at MetLife Stadium in Week 4.

Is that mind-boggling or what?

Typically, teams average about 2.5 touchdowns per game, so stringing together a few good games doesn’t seem that hard. Then again, offense is hard for the Jets, who generated a league-low 18 touchdowns in 2023 and haven’t produced a top-10 scoring offense since 2008.

The man who presided over last season’s mess, offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, can take some satisfaction in seeing positive results, thanks to a huge boost from a healthy Aaron Rodgers. Hackett downplayed the early results, saying there’s plenty of room for improvement.

“The expectation is to score touchdowns, and a lot of them,” Hackett said. “That’s what we’re hunting.”

2. All on the wrist: Keen observers may have noticed a subtle change in Rodgers’ game-day attire. He’s wearing a wristband with a play sheet, something he didn’t do in his only appearance last season.

He used a wristband during his last few seasons with the Green Bay Packers under coach Matt LaFleur, whose system is like Hackett’s in that it’s very wordy — common for a West Coast-style offense. The play sheet helps streamline the process.

3. Zach’s back: Three quarterbacks drafted by the Jets are on other teams. Two of them, Sam Darnold (Minnesota Vikings) and Geno Smith (Seattle Seahawks), are a combined 6-0. The third is Zach Wilson, who is attempting to reboot his career as the Broncos’ QB3 after three disappointing seasons with the Jets.

The Jets had nothing but kind things to say about Wilson. The consensus opinion: A talented player who needed to get out of the New York pressure-cooker, giving him a chance to mature in a less stressful environment.

“I still stand here and believe that he’s going to have a hell of a career,” coach Robert Saleh said.

Rodgers said he still keeps tabs on Wilson, adding that they communicate “here and there.” He considers Wilson a “little brother” even though their relationship was reportedly strained last season. Rodgers said he hopes his former understudy can benefit from a reset in Denver.

Wilson, drafted No. 2 overall in 2021, wanted out last season and was traded before the draft. The Jets didn’t get much in return — a sixth-round pick for Wilson and a seventh-rounder.

4. Well-traveled pick: If you’re wondering what happened to that draft pick from the Wilson trade (No. 203 overall), well, the Jets used it in a draft-day swap with the Vikings. The Jets gave up that pick, along with the 10th pick, to acquire the 11th pick and two other draft choices.

In a way, the Jets helped the Vikings secure what could be their quarterback of the future, J.J. McCarthy, chosen 10th overall. At 11, the Jets happily selected the player they were prepared to take at 10 — tackle Olu Fashanu, who makes his first start Sunday.

5. Another Brick in the wall? Rodgers said Fashanu reminds him of former Jets tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson, who retired in 2016. That’s quite a compliment, considering Ferguson is a member of the team’s Ring of Honor.

Size-wise, they’re virtually identical: Ferguson, 6-foot-6, 310 pounds; Fashanu, 6-foot-6, 312, based on their scouting-combine measurements. Ferguson was always considered a quiet, consistent worker. Fashanu is developing the same reputation.

Ferguson was a Day 1 starter in 2006. Fashanu is replacing right tackle Morgan Moses (knee). It probably will be a two- or three-game gig. One thing to remember about Fashanu: He’s new to right tackle, having played left tackle his entire life. His experience at right tackle consists of 42 snaps — 14 last week, 28 in one preseason game.

6. Undefeated on long rest: Let’s face it, Rodgers has produced countless positive trends in his career — he didn’t win four MVPs by accident — but this one is particularly noteworthy considering the circumstances:

He’s 13-0 in home games with at least nine days rest, per ESPN Research. His stats in those games: 32 touchdowns, eight interceptions and an average of 295 passing yards. He’s facing the Broncos on nine days rest.

7. Reddick fine check: It’s another lost game check ($792,000) for holdout Haason Reddick, bringing his four-week total to $3.16 million in lost salary. Additionally, he has accumulated $4.5 million in mandatory fines, plus another $1.4 million in discretionary fines.

If the holdout extends beyond the fourth week of the regular season, which is now, the team is allowed to recoup 1/18th of what remains from his pro-rated signing bonus. That occurs each week, maxing out at $2.74 million. He already has sacrificed roughly half the pro-rated bonus because of his holdout.

8. Fixed in a snap: They were some of the toughest days of Joe Tippmann’s football life. Early in training camp, out of the blue, he started misfiring with his shotgun snaps. His high snaps made Rodgers seem like he was on a pogo stick.

Tippmann credited Rodgers with helping him through the ordeal. His quarterback offered advice and encouragement, even joking that he wanted Tippmann to purposely fire snaps at his feet. That lightened the mood.

“I have all the trust in the world with him, especially with him getting me right, getting me on the same page as him,” Tippmann said.

9. A Surtain look: Receivers coach Shawn Jefferson, trying to explain Garrett Wilson’s intensity, mentioned the tattoo on the receiver’s arm: “TTWFO” — ‘Til the wheels fall off.

Wilson will need to employ that mindset as he battles through a period in which he’s drawing extra attention from defenses. Jefferson said the coaches “have to do a better job of moving him around” the formation, including the slot, to create favorable matchups.

On Sunday, he’s expected to see a lot of Broncos star cornerback Pat Surtain II.

10. The Last Word: “That’s old news … I honestly haven’t thought about it until you just brought it up.” Rodgers on whether Sean Payton’s derogatory comments last year about Hackett will be a source of motivation Sunday. Rodgers was injured for last season’s game against Denver — aka Hackett-Payton I.

Multan (AFP): Opener Zak Crawley said on Friday that England’s young pace attack will face a “test of character” in their upcoming Test series in Pakistan where a pitch baked by searing temperatures and surging smog levels await.

The team touched down this week in the central city of Multan, which will host the first two of a three-match Test series starting on Monday.

With training underway, temperatures are 37°C (99°F) and air pollution is up to 27 times the level deemed safe by the World Health Organisation, according to monitoring firm IQAir.

“It will be challenging, but we have got all the things in place to counter that,” said Crawley, returning to the squad after missing a home series against Sri Lanka with a fractured finger.

“We are looking forward to that challenge,” the 26-year-old told reporters in Multan. “We have been talking about it for the last couple of weeks.”

He predicted England’s quintet of pace bowlers — on their maiden tours of Pakistan — would particularly face a “test of character and test of skill”.

With experienced pace duo James Anderson and Stuart Broad now retired, the baton of pace bowling is with Brydon Carse, Matthew Potts, Gus Atkinson, Olly Stone and Chris Woakes.

“These young guys have got a lot of skill,” said Crawley. “Being young brings in energy and fire in the belly as well, and I am sure they will be raring to go and do well.”

Pakistan’s international cricket performance is in dire straits, and the red-ball team has lost all five matches during the tenure of skipper Shan Masood which began last year.

Last month they suffered a humiliating first-ever 2-0 home series defeat to low-ranked Bangladesh.

Crawley is one of the eight players on England’s Test squad who also played in the team beating Pakistan 3-0 in 2022, inflicting on them their first whitewash at home.

“I think we will put pressure on the opponents, like the last time,” said Crawley, citing England’s aggressive “Bazball” tactics, dubbed after the nickname of head coach Brendon McCullum.

“The finger is good and I have recovered well,” Crawley said about his recovery from injury. “I am absolutely raring to go. I can’t wait.”

The second Test starts in Multan on October 15 with the final match played in Rawalpindi from October 24.