The stakes are high for both teams as the third test at Birmingham promises to be an exhilarating affair. While England head into the game with a lot of confidence after a beaming victory in the second test at Old Trafford, taking Pakistan lightly will be a poor move indeed. With the local crowd comprising mainly of British Asians, the Pakistanis will never fall short of crowd support during the third test.
Very rarely have the Pakistanis made a daring comeback in a test series after enduring a crushing loss. The defeat at Old Trafford was hard to fathom as the visitors were comprehensively outplayed in all departments by a ruthless English outfit. With England’s stellar record at Birmingham to be kept in mind, Pakistan have a gigantic task lying ahead in store.
A day ahead of the game, England announced their playing XI. The only alteration to England’s side was the addition of towering pacer Steven Finn, at the expense of injured all-rounder Ben Stokes. Finn, who had a poor outing at Lord’s, was trusted ahead of Jake Ball, and the pacer will be eager to prove a point. This means that Chris Woakes will bat at number 8 and considering his recent form, that could well be a blessing in disguise.
Speaking to the press, both skippers reiterated the need to be on point for the game. Misbah Ul Haq urged his batsmen to apply themselves better, after a horror show at Manchester. “We need to really improve. In the previous Test match, we let them score heavily on the first two days and couldn’t put pressure on them. It’s difficult to come back from 600 runs but still we could have done better with the bat. We got starts, the 20s, 30s and 40, but we need to go big,” said Misbah.
Alastair Cook, on the other hand, said that his batsmen would remain cautious against the cunning Yasir Shah. “He’s (Shah) going to be a danger, there’s no doubt about that, and he will have learned from his experience up at Old Trafford, that’s what happens when you have a tough game. That’s the beauty of a series. He can bounce back now and perhaps pose a different challenge but if we play him like we did at Old Trafford and have that same kind of game-plan we should play him better than at Lord’s,” said Cook.