England bowl against Pakistan in first Test of post-Bazball era

LEEDS, United Kingdom: England captain Joe Root won the toss and elected to field in the first Test against Pakistan at Headingley on Wednesday.

This is the first match of Root’s second stint as full-time England Test captain following the retirement from all international cricket of former skipper Ben Stokes.

England are also without the other architect of their aggressive ‘Bazball’ approach to red-ball cricket after Brendon McCullum was sacked as Test coach following a 2-1 series loss against New Zealand in June.

The hosts, who have won just two of their last 10 Tests, made three changes to their side.

Jordan Cox replaced the injured Jacob Bethell at number three and Dan Lawrence filed the gap in the middle order left by Stokes at number six.

Fast-medium bowler Ollie Robinson replaced off-spinner Shoaib Bashir.

“We feel there’s some overheads to work with, and bit of top moisture that our lads can exploit,” said Root at the toss, as he explained his decision to bowl first.

Pakistan, bidding for their first series win in England in 30 years, suffered a setback before the three-match contest when captain Babar Azam was ruled out with a hand injury.

All-rounder Salman Ali Agha leads Pakistan for the first time in a Test.

Top-order batsman Shan Masood has been passed fit, with Saud Shakeel returning to the side.

“It was last minute I find out I’m captaining,” said Agha. “Babar’s absence is unfortunate.

“We’ve been playing a lot of red-ball cricket. We’re well prepared,” he added, with England, by contrast, coming into this game following several weeks of the limited-overs Hundred domestic competition.