LEEDS: After being crushed by a relatively much inexperienced side at Lord’s, England have a massive job on hand when they take on Pakistan in the second and final Test starting here at Headingley on Friday.

Their win at Lord’s came as something of a shock. This was a young Pakistan side whose batsmen were expected to be troubled by the veteran duo of James Anderson (136 Tests) and Stuart Broad (116 Tests). Instead, it was the England batsmen who suffered, dismissed for 184 and 242 as Pakistan won by nine wickets, taking an unassailable 1-0 lead in the series.

It was Pakistan’s second win in a row on tour — they saw off Ireland earlier in May — and they have all the confidence heading into the second Test. Meanwhile, Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed has warned his team can play even better against England at Headingley than they did at Lord’s.

Sarfraz-led tourists have the opportunity to revive past glories by becoming the first team from Pakistan to win a Test series in England since the great fast-bowling duo of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis were in their pomp 22 years ago.On that occasion, Pakistan drew at Headingley and won twice in London.

In this series, they need only to do the same in Leeds to close out a 1-0 success and contrary to a consensus that Pakistan played their perfect match at Lord’s, Sarfraz believes they are capable of putting even more pressure on England.

Ben Stokes to undergo scan on hamstring before the match

“We need to keep improving all the time,” the Pakistan skipper said while talking to reporters at Headingley on Thursday.

“As well as we played at Lord’s, we can still play better than that. We made four half-centuries at Lord’s — and if one of them had gone on to the big hundred that would’ve been even better. [Same with the bowlers] if they take three or four wickets, make it five or six.”

It will be a famous achievement if Sarfraz’s men can emulate their great predecessors.

“If we do win this, it will be a series we’ll never forget,” he added. “The last time we won a series in England was in 1996, when Wasim and Waqar were around, and we drew at Leeds then.”

In order to create those memories, Sarfraz advises the opposite in the short term.

“We have to forget Lord’s and move on to this now,” the wicket-keeper/batsman said. “If we want to move ahead as a team we have to forget our wins. We did well, we enjoyed it for two days, but now we’re here.

“If we are to move up in the rankings we need to forget our wins and keep moving on.”

USMAN REPLACES BABAR

Pakistan have sprung a minor surprise in selection, preferring Usman Salahuddin to his fellow uncapped batsman Fakhar Zaman to replace the injured Babar Azam.

Sarfraz said it was an easy choice, despite the impact Zaman made with a match-winning century in last summer’s ICC Champions Trophy final against India at The Oval.

“It wasn’t close … we’ve seen Usman as a better option,” he said. “Usman has been with us for the last three tours. He’s worked very hard and he’s been doing well.”

Meanwhile, England will make a late decision on whether to include Ben Stokes in their final XI. The all-rounder ran at “full intensity”, according to the ECB, and batted in the nets on Thursday but will undergo a scan on his hamstring on Friday to discover the extent of the injury.

Captain Joe Root refused to rule out the possibility of Stokes playing as a specialist batsman, as he did in the first Test against New Zealand in March, but insisted no decisions have yet been made on who might be in line to replace him as England target a series-levelling win.

“Until we know how serious an injury it is, it’s hard to really make decisions and because of that we can’t name a team today,” Root said. “Of course, if Ben is fit then we want him in the side, he’s one of our best players, who brings a lot to the table and he offers so much to this team.

“We’ve got to see how serious the injury is and then we can start making decisions on selection. I think it would be wrong to starting picking a team and then work back from there.

“We’ve got to be really realistic about how fit Ben is, speak to the medical staff. See what the situation is and then make a decision.”

While Chris Woakes and Sam Curran must wait to discover and if they will be required to replace Stokes, one guaranteed change sees the return of Keaton Jennings at the top of the order, who comes in for Mark Stoneman.

Root admitted England were well short of their best in the huge defeat at Lord’s but the captain is backing his team to respond in a positive manner.

“I look at that dressing room and there is so much talent in there, so many times individuals have stood up and put match-winning performances in and this is another opportunity to do that,” he said.

Teams:

ENGLAND (probable): Alastair Cook, Keaton Jennings, Joe Root (captain), Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow (wicket-keeper), Ben Stokes/Sam Curran, Jos Buttler, Chris Woakes, Dominic Bess, Stuart Broad, James Anderson

PAKISTAN: Azhar Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Haris Sohail, Asad Shafiq, Usman Salahuddin, Sarfraz Ahmed (captain), Faheem Ashraf, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Abbas

Umpires: Rod Tucker, Bruce Oxenford (both Australia)

TV umpire: Paul Reiffel (Australia)

Match referee: Jeff Crowe (New Zealand).

Published in Dawn, June 1st, 2018