ENG vs PAK: England announce their 14-man squad for first Test

Winners of the Wisden Trophy against West Indies, England will return to Test cricket within a week. They will now be facing the Pakistani challenge. The two teams will face off against each other on 5th August for the first Test match at Old Trafford, Manchester. England have announced an unchanged 14-man squad from the West Indies series.

England Test Squad: Joe Root (captain), James Anderson, Jofra Archer, Dominic Bess, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Sam Curran, Ollie Pope, Dom Sibley, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood

The pace bowling attack thus remains unchanged with off-spinner Dominic Bess being the sole spinner. Left-arm spinner Jack Leach has been included in the reserves. The core bowling unit of Anderson-Broad-Archer-Wood-Woakes and Curran is likely to be rotated throughout all three Test matches.

Joe Root shall lead the side. The batsman had missed the first Test of the West Indies series due to personal reasons. Joe Denly, who will be featuring in the ODI series against Ireland, misses out on the longest format. Three reserve players apart from Leach include Ben Foakes (wicketkeeper), James Bracey and Dan Lawrence (batsmen).

The 18 players were allowed to go home for a few days straight after the completion of the final Test against West Indies to spend time with their families. They will arrive at the Old Trafford on Sunday (2nd August) to start their preparations.

We’ve named our squad for the first Test against Pakistan ?

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) July 29, 2020