England captain Ben Stokes has been declared fit for England’s second Test against Pakistan after recovering from a torn hamstring.
Stokes sustained the injury in August while playing for Northern Superchargers in The Hundred and has missed the last four Test matches, including last week’s historic opening Test in Multan which saw England beat hosts Pakistan by an innings and 47 runs.
Stokes replaces all-rounder Chris Woakes in the side for Tuesday’s second Test, while seamer Matt Potts comes in for Gus Atkinson.
Potts is back in the side for the first time since the Lord’s Test against Sri Lanka at the end of August.
Having chosen not to risk his fitness for the first Test, Stokes returns after a series of rigorous workouts and will reclaim his spot at number six, bolstering a batting line-up that ran up a staggering 823 for seven last week.
England’s pace attack is an all-Durham affair, with Potts lining up alongside Brydon Carse, who impressed on debut.
Atkinson has been left out for the first time since coming into the team at the start of the summer but he and Woakes have been rested after taking heavy workloads in energy-sapping heat in the first Test.
Unusually, the second Test is set to be played on the same pitch in Multan, with Pakistan appearing to have sought a left-field solution to try and get back into the series.
The track was stubbornly flat for the first Test, with first-innings totals of 556 and 823-7 and just 13 wickets in the first three days.
Now, Pakistan are seemingly ready to gamble that a worn wicket which saw 353.3 overs of action in the past week offers greater balance between bat and ball than a pristine one.
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Watch the best shots from Harry Brook’s triple hundred from the first Test against Pakistan
Babar dropped in radical Pakistan shake-up
Pakistan have dropped star batter Babar Azam as well as strike bowlers Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah in a radical shake-up for the remainder of the Test series against England.
After six consecutive defeats under new captain Shan Masood and a winless streak at home that dates back more than two-and-a-half years, a revamped selection panel has reacted decisively to England’s innings victory in the first Test.
Babar, the standard bearer for the country’s cricket in recent years and current world No 1 in ODIs, leads the omissions for the second and third matches.
Pakistan’s Babar Azam reacts as he walks off the field after his dismissal during the fourth day of the first Test
The 29-year-old last scored a Test century in December 2022 and has a top score of just 41 in 18 subsequent innings.
Just as strikingly, leading seamers Shaheen and Naseem have also been stood down just one game after returning from injury.
First-choice spinner Abrar Ahmed has been ruled out after the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) confirmed the illness which struck him down in the first Test is a case of dengue fever and reserve wicketkeeper Sarfaraz Ahmed has also been released.
It amounts to a drastic overhaul, not least given the brief three-day turnaround between matches in Multan.
Uncapped trio Haseebullah, Mehran Mumtaz and Kamran Ghulam have been called up, alongside fast bowler Mohammad Ali and off-spinner Sajid Khan.
Veteran spinners Noman Ali and Zahid Mehmood, aged 38 and 36 respectively, also return after being part of the original training group for the series.
Pakistan: Shan Masood (c), Saud Shakeel, Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Haseebullah, Kamran Ghulam, Mehran Mumtaz, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Huraira, Mohammad Rizwan, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Zahid Mehmood.
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Sky Sports’ Michael Atherton talks through the latest fitness update of Stokes and current pitch conditions ahead of England’s second Test match against Pakistan
First Test: Multan – October 7-11 – England won by an innings and 47 runs
Second Test: Multan – October 15-19
Third Test: Rawalpindi – October 24-28
Every match from the 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup is also live on Sky Sports from October 3-20 with Australia aiming for a third straight title and seventh overall, and England seeking to triumph for the first time since the inaugural edition in 2009.
Watch day one of the second Test between Pakistan and England in Multan, live on Sky Sports Cricket and Main Event from 5.30am on Tuesday, ahead of play starting from 6am. Stream with NOW
