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Friday, March 29 2024
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Pakistan cricket team ready to playtest match cricket in August

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Test match cricket hopeful to return in August

Pakistan are hopeful of sending a 25 man squad over to England for their 3 match test series in August. Playing test match cricket in England is always something to look forward to for travelling players given England is the home of cricket.

With the current COVID19 situation looking like lockdown rules will be eased, we await news over the next few months whether visitors from abroad can arrive in the UK and then play a competitive top sport such as Cricket.

Once the green light comes then the Pakistan three-test series with England promises to be a fantastic encounter of two top test nations

Pakistan test match cricket
Pakistan will come into the three-match test series with England in good spirits following their recent performances. In February 2020, Pakistan played a one-off test match with Bangladesh and convincingly won by an innings and 44 runs. Babar Azam and Shan Masood both got centuries with Azam recording 143 and Masood exactly 100. With a total score of 445, Pakistan looked comfortable with the bat.

 In the bowling department, it was a combined effort by the bowling attack of Shaheen Afridi who took 4 wickets in the first innings and a single wicket in the second innings, plus Naseem Shah and Yasir Shah who both took 4 wickets in Bangladesh’s 2nd innings to seal the emphatic win for Pakistan.

In December 2019, Pakistan won a two-match test series against Sri Lanka by winning the 2nd test match after drawing the first match. The first match saw a top batting performance by Babar Azam scoring 102 not out and the supporting act came from Abid Ali who also scored a century as the match was played out for a draw.

The impressive batting performance from Azam will be a key factor when Pakistan heads over to England for the three-match test series as the conditions may suit the swing bowlers of England so Azam will have to step up and show he should be feared as a top world test match batsman.

In the deciding 2nd test match between Sri Lanka and Pakistan, it was Abid Ali who was instrumental in the victory as he scored an impressive 174 in Pakistan’s 2nd innings to ensure victory was within their grasp. Shan Masood also helped with 135 runs in the same innings which helped the Pakistan bowlers finish the job.

Naseem Shah took full advantage of favorable conditions to take five wickets in the 2nd innings for just 31 runs to help Pakistan bowl out Sri Lanka for 212 runs and win the test match. Shaheen Afridi played an important part by taking five wickets in the first innings to restrict Sri Lanka to 271 runs after Pakistan could only put up 191 in their first innings. Overall it was an impressive climax to the test match and a big win for Pakistan.

Pakistan test match tour of England
Pakistan will look to build on the momentum of their recent test match victories as they had over to England later this year. With improving the batting department and a good bowling attack, they should cause England many problems. Ali, Azam, and Masood should all play well with the condition on offer, and Afridi and Shah will look to cause problems with the ball.

England will come into the three test match series with Pakistan in pretty good form. Having traveled to South Africa late in 2019, they performed superbly to win the series-winning three test matches and losing only one.

What was more impressive is that South Africa won the first test match and then England was pretty much faultless throughout the remaining matches. James Anderson was superb in the 2nd test with the ball and then Stuart Broad and Mark Wood bowled very well to reduce South Africa to competitive scored. Mark Wood especially was hugely valuable taking nine wickets in the final test.
The man of the series and England’s key man this summer is likely to be Ben Stokes. He scored well when it mattered in South Africa and also took key wickets to give England a fantastic test victory.

The three-match series with Pakistan and England starting in August promises to be an enthralling set of matches and we hope it will go ahead and entertain all cricket fans. 

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