After thrashing Sri Lanka in their first test series of the summer, England face tougher opposition in the form of Pakistan. Alistair Cook’s side have a number of debutants in the team for the match at Lord’s with Nottinghamshire bowler Jake Ball expected to start in place of the injured James Anderson.
Pakistan have Mohammed Amir back in controversial circumstances. The bowler had been banned from cricket and served a jail term for spot-fixing at Lord’s in 2010. Amir is likely to get an incredibly hostile reception from the crowd with many feeling he should have been banned from the sport for life.
England’s Joe Root has proved to be one of the best, if not the best batsman in world cricket right now. While his last outing at Lord’s at test level yielded a total of just seven runs, he has an excellent record on this ground and was phenomenal against New Zealand in last year’s test match at the home of cricket.
Additionally, the last time Root was up against Pakistan, in Abu Dhabi, he batted exceptionally well scoring nearly 200 runs in the searing heat. English conditions should mean he performs even better against them this time.
Joe Root to get a 50 in the first innings is 6/5.
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