England head to Southampton for the second Test against Pakistan which gets under way on Thursday - Richard Mann has previewed the action.
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I was reminded in recent days that those of us who love Test cricket spend much of our time trying to convince those that don’t just why they should. It’s probably a fair charge.
But last week’s first Test really was a brilliant advert for the game, a match that had just about everything: a big, old-style Test hundred, skilful and genuinely quick fast bowling on both sides, attacking wrist spin, and a nervy run chase that was driven by fearless and calculated ‘modern-day’ batsmanship.
It truly was a marvel and I make no apologies for reaffirming my view that Test cricket, when played on a good pitch like we saw at Old Trafford, between by two exciting, and sometimes fragile, teams can make for brilliant sport.
If that was a sign of things to come, we could be in for an enthralling series and should be under no illusions about the threat Pakistan pose, particularly from a batting line-up that is led by Babar Azam.
Babar looked every inch the world-class batsman he has been touted as when stroking a silky 69 in the first-innings in Manchester but England will have noted that he was dismissed twice in the match when pushing at balls outside off stump.
Should James Anderson be retained in England’s starting XI at the Ageas Bowl this week, he and Chris Woakes look the types of bowlers who can continue to cause Babar problems if getting the ball to move sideways.
One man who used to struggle against the moving ball is Pakistan opener Shan Masood but he is a different player from the one who flopped here in 2016. His first-innings 156 at Old Trafford is testament to that and he will rightly feel aggrieved to have finished up on the losing side.
As alluded to in my series preview here, Masood has always been a batsmen who plays pace well but he is leaving the ball much better nowadays, a trait that has already served him well in South Africa and is certainly a must against the Dukes ball in England.
The hosts, on the other hand, must make him play more regularly early in his innings and Anderson, in particular, might feel bowling around the wicket to him from now on is the way to go.
I have written plenty already about why I believe Anderson is still England’s best bowler and should remain an automatic pick, but there is no denying that he struggled for his best in Manchester and a lean summer thus far leaves him under a little bit of pressure.
It’s not that Anderson bowled that badly last week, but he finds himself amongst a crop of hungry and fit fast bowlers who can all lay claim to a spot in the side. Ben Stokes’ absence for the rest of the series should give Anderson a reprieve – particularly with Chris Woakes excelling at number seven in Manchester – but the veteran will be desperate to make an impact in the coming days.
With Stokes making the trip to New Zealand for family reasons, England will make a reshuffle in their batting order with Zak Crawley expected to slot back in at number three, allowing Joe Root to move down to number four and Ollie Pope staying at five.
This will be a big test of Crawley’s mettle having sat out England’s last couple of matches following a quiet second Test of the Wisden Trophy against the West Indies earlier in the summer.
Root, too, looked short of his best last week and although the second innings was more promising, his foot movements still look slightly out of sink and I can’t help but feel that Pakistan’s left-arm paceman Shaheen Afridi will cause him plenty of problems if able to consistently swing the ball back into his pads.
With all that in mind, and Stokes' absence of course, I once again find myself coming round to Ollie Pope who stands out like a beacon in the top England first innings runscorer market at 9/2.
Having already got Pope on side in my series preview, I was delighted to see the Surrey batsman top score in England’s first innings in Manchester when rescuing his side from a perilous position.
It wasn't just Pope’s 62 runs that stood out; it was the manner in which he briskly went about changing the flow of England’s innings with his busy approach and ability to transfer pressure onto the opposition bowlers which again marked him out as a special talent.
Crucially, he was certainly ‘got out’ in both innings as he received a couple of brutish lifters in the match, and at the risk of sounding like a broken record, Pope has to be backed again.
It will be interesting to see whether Pakistan name an unchanged XI in Southampton with 17-year-old paceman Naseem Shah impressing last week but needing to back up quickly now.
Leg spinner Yasir Shah will be expected to lead their attack once again but I’m not sure he bowled as well in Manchester as his eight wickets might suggest.
He had conditions in his favour throughout but England played him much better when looking to be positive – Pope and Jos Buttler being the obvious examples – and I’ll be interested to see how he goes if has to get through plenty of overs on a fresh day one pitch.
I still think Mohammad Abbas is Pakistan’s most reliable performer with the ball but he’s already in the series staking plan so I’ll stick with a single on Pope this week.
Posted at 1205 BST on 11/08/20
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