Pakistan wins the toss and elects to bat against England in the first Test

MULTAN, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan captain Shan Masood won the coin toss and elected to bat in the first Test against England on Monday.

Pakistan had been searching for its first Test win at home in more than three-and-a-half years since last beating South Africa in early 2021. It was beaten 2-0 by Bangladesh in August but continued to rely on the same struggling batting line-up. for the opening game of the three-game series.

Masood, who has lost all five Test matches since being appointed captain last year, said the team was “hurt” by recent results, particularly losing a few games after coming close to victory.

“We asked for a good cricket wicket,” Masood said at the toss. “We want to change things, we want to get back on track and we want to do that with this group of players.”

Fast bowling all-rounder Aamer Jamal, who missed the series against Bangladesh, has recovered from a back injury and will join fellow fast bowlers Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah in the frontline as Pakistan also used specialist spinner Abrar Ahmed .

England's regular Test captain Ben Stokes will miss the series opener as he has not yet fully recovered from a hamstring injury sustained during the Hundred.

Stokes presented a Test cap to his Durham teammate Brydon Carse, who will make his debut as England's new-look pace attack looks to challenge Pakistan's struggling top batting line-up.

Gus Atkinson, who had a sensational home season against West Indies and Sri Lanka, will play his first Test overseas and Chris Woakes returns to the Test squad after two and a half years.

In Stokes' absence, England will be led by Ollie Pope for the fourth consecutive Test match after he led the team to a 2-1 home win against Sri Lanka.

Pope said he decided to bat too as temperatures in Multan are expected to reach 40 degrees Celsius.

“The conditions are probably the hottest I’ve ever played in,” Pope said. “We would have had a bat but there is some moisture on the pitch so we hope we can make the best of it for now.”

Multan will host back-to-back Test matches after the second Test was moved from Karachi due to construction work at the National Bank Stadium for next year's Champions Trophy. Rawalpindi will host the third and final Test from October 24.

England defeated Pakistan 3-0 on their tour of Pakistan in 2022.

___

Lineups:

Pakistan: Saim Ayub, Abdullah Shafique, Shan Masood (captain), Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan, Salman Ali Agha, Aamer Jamal, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Abrar Ahmed.

England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope (captain), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith, Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Jack Leach, Shoaib Bashir.

___

AP Cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket