MULTAN: Returning Eng­land captain Ben Stokes said on Monday he hopes a reused pitch for the second Test against Pakistan in Multan will play into the tourists’ hands rather than the spin-heavy hosts.

Desperate to level the three-match series after an innings and 47-run defeat on Friday, Pakistan named three spinners in four changes from the first Test.

In a rare move, Pakistan — who have now gone winless in 11 home Tests since February 2021 — decided to use the same flat surface on which England piled up 823-7 declared in reply to their 556 all out.

“If you look at the way that the first Test played out, if another wicket like that was produced, maybe that gives us more of an advantage,” said Stokes, back in the side after missing the first Test with a hamstring injury.

Despite the first-innings run-fest — with Harry Brook smashing 317 and Joe Root making 262 — England bowled out Pakistan for 220 in their second innings to secure a remarkable victory.

England left out seamers Gus Atkinson and Chris Woakes to bring in Matthew Potts and Stokes, but kept the same spinners in Jack Leach and Shoaib Bashir.

“You’d like to think it might be a bit more in favour of the spin, so if it does spin more, or if it does reverse more, there’s more options there for both teams,” added Stokes.

The all-rounder, who may not yet be fit to bowl, said he has never seen such a strategy before.

“It could be a tactic but I’ve never seen a pitch before used in back-to-back games. And I’ve never seen fans that big standing as umpires,” he said, referring to two big industrial fans at both ends being used to dry the pitch.

Stokes said he could bowl if necessary, so he and Potts will freshen up the seam attack, with Atkinson and Woakes rested after playing all six Tests over the summer and the first two Tests against Pakistan coming back-to-back.

“Look, it’s obviously got to be sensible,” said the talismanic all-rounder, who has been bowling in the nets since before the first Test. “I’m obviously playing as a third seamer.

“I’m available to bowl and obviously when I sense the time is right for me to maybe come on and make an impact there won’t be any doubts in my mind that I can come on and bowl.”

Asked if he could have played as a batsman only, the 33-year-old skipper added: “Those were the sort of thoughts that went through my head at home before we came out. I’d written a few teams down with me not bowling, and it just didn’t work.”

Since Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum took over in May 2022, England have played aggressive cricket, with only one draw.

“I think if we went 1-0 down at home, we would probably be going to our groundsman at the second Test saying ‘can we have a bit more of this, bit more of that’ to use our home advantage in our favour.

“With me being captain and Baz being coach, that’s how we both view cricket, that there should be a winner.”

Pakistan have rung the changes after resting senior cricketers including former captain Babar Azam from the rest of the series.

All-rounder Kamran Ghulam will make his Test debut; the 29-year-old having previously represented Pakistan in a 50-over match in January 2023.

Kamran has performed well in domestic cricket, having set a national record of 1,249 runs in the 2020-21 season.

Spinners Noman Ali, Zahid Mehmood and Sajid Khan have also been named in the team with Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah and Sarfaraz Ahmed rested along with Babar.

Left-armer Noman, 38, played his last Test in July 2023 while 36-year-old leg-break bowler Zahid has not represented Pakistan since December 2022. Off-spinner Sajid’s previous Test appearance was in January.

Aamer Jamal the only frontline pace bow­ler and Pakistan’s assistant coach Azhar Mah­mood believes the pitch will help his team,

“The strategy behind the used pitch is to take 20 wickets,” said Azhar, “We want to get 20 England wickets and going with spinners will help us dominate.”

Babar had failed to score a half-century in his last 18 Test innings and Azhar defended the decision to leave out the struggling star batter.

“Babar was willing to play but the selection committee thought it was the best time to give him a rest,” Azhar told reporters. “Babar is our No. 1 player. There’s no question about his technique and ability.

“He is not dropped, we have given him rest considering the coming hectic cricket schedule and we thought it would be best for him to come refreshed for the three away tours coming. I am quite close to Babar and I know there’s lots of things going on in his mind.”

Teams:

PAKISTAN: Shan Masood (captain), Saim Ayub, Abdullah Shafique, Kamran Ghulam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan, Salman Agha, Aamer Jamal, Noman Ali, Sajid Khan, Zahid Mahmood.

ENGLAND: Ben Stokes (captain), Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith, Brydon Carse, Matthew Potts, Jack Leach, Shoaib Bashir.

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2024