England v Pakistan Test Series 2026.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Pakistan due to play a three day warm up tomorrow. Then...

19-23 1st Test, Headingley (11:00 BST)
27-31 2nd Test, Lord's (11:00 BST)
September
9-13 3rd Test, Edgbaston (11:00 BST).

[Arthur Crabtree]

This is the Pakistan squad.

Babar Azam (c)
Mohammad Abbas
Mohammad Ali
Salman Ali Agha
Azan Awais
Imam-ul-Haq
Aamir Jamal
Ghazi Ghori (wk)
Sajid Khan
Shan Masood
Mohammad Rizwan (wk)
Khurram Shahzad
Abdullah Shafique
Saud Shakeel
Ubaid Shah
Ali Usman
Awais Zafar

[Arthur Crabtree]

And this is England...

Joe Root (c)
Jofra Archer
Gus Atkinson
Shoaib Bashir
Harry Brook
Brydon Carse
Sam Cook
Jordan Cox
Ben Duckett
Matthew Fisher
Emilio Gay
Dan Lawrence
Ollie Pope
Ollie Robinson
Jamie Smith
Josh Tongue

So in- Carse, Cook, Cox, Lawrence, Pope
And out- Stokes, Rehan, Baker, Bethell, JRew.

[Arthur Crabtree]

This looks the likely XI, based on a BBC article.

Duckett
Gay
Cox
Root
Brook
Lawrence
Smith
Atkinson
Robinson
Archer
Tongue
_______

Pope
Carse
Fisher
Cook
Bashir

Though surely they need a spinner given the weather...

Seven pace options. Only one spinner and an occasional slow bowler.

[sussexpob]

The Dan Lawrence recall feels very Rob Key. He looks like one of the worst technical players ever to play test cricket for England, and has been utterly outclassed in test cricket over 15 games, but he scored 5 centuries this year on some of the flattest pancakes English cricket has ever seen, every single one in a game that didn't produce a result or even really come realistically close, so he is back in.

In games where results were had, he has failed in every one. Nothing more than stats padding on subpar wickets and playing with under 13 boundaries....

[Arthur Crabtree]

Not doing anything with the ball.

[sussexpob]

Dropping English cricket's best youth prospect after 2 test innings and piloting in a previous abhorrent failure also remarkably feels like we got in a Dolorian and time machined back to 1996.

Bethell can average 28 and score no hundred for Warwickshire in 30 games and will be allowed 50 test matches to prove himself, James Rew breaks Denis Compton's 1948 record as the youngest Englis cricketer ever to score 10 FC hundreds as a professional, and his international career is being put in a bodybag and dumped in a river somewhere after one game.

English cricket is facing a long rebuilt, who is more likely to turn up in Australia in 4 years time? The guy who averages 26 and looked rubbish at every opportunity, or the young guy breaking ll time scoring records at his age?

I dont get it, I really do not

[sussexpob]

Although trying to work out Rob Key's ideas, is a bit like that scene in Father Ted when Ted is trying to explain to Dougle that the cows aren't small, they are just far away...

[Arthur Crabtree]

The probably pace attack looks about right.

I wouldn't be amazed though if Carse is picked, as an apparent reverse swing specialist.

[sussexpob]

Josh Tongue needs to improve a lot over the next series, or I can see him being cast out. Really, his figures are hugely boosted by a performance at Melbourne played on a sub-standard wicket that was almost impossible to bat on, aside from that he's been subpar mostly.

Originally back against India in 25, he was consistently bowling wild spells all over the place mixed with the odd killer ball, but when that killer ball doesn't come he can be an expensive non-factor. Has to bowl more consistently at this level

[sussexpob]

wouldn't be amazed though if Carse is picked, as an apparent reverse swing specialist.

England's whole masterplan over recent times at home has been to produce dead wickets that hardly break up over 5 days, in order to boost their slogging capabilities with the bat. As part of the plan, they wanted quicker bowlers who apparently would perform better on this lifeless tracks because they can bowl a magic ball, or have pace to liven up a slow surface, but then India set this on fire when they then batted out more overs than any team have ever managed in a 5 test series in the history of the game, and we turned vulnerable players like Gill or a low order player like Jadeja into Bradman.

Most importantly, there is a case to suggest that Carse had the worst 5 test series in the history of the game (no player has ever taken as many wickets in a test series averaging higher than him), so the idea that this type of bowler is superior for the conditions you produce was been totally debunked. In "normal" conditions not tailored to be flat, Carse is a bit like Tongue. I don't see his inclusion as optimal, and the idea itself came from a failed experiment.

England have a 3 man pace attack all averaging around or above 30... which in 2026 is quite frankly rubbish. The bowling ideas since Broad and Anderson departed have not been great.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Josh Tongue needs to improve a lot over the next seriesl

Has done well against the big teams so far and his SR is Dale Steyn-esque. But early days. His action has changed since his injury, which is disappointing as he had a nice looking action.

[bigfluffylemon]

No spinner seems insane after the summer England's had.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Maybe Bashir is unpickable again. But they are not on the other side of the world in winter. This is at home in the middle of the English season, so there are options.

[sussexpob]

Josh Tongue needs to improve a lot over the next seriesl

Has done well against the big teams so far and his SR is Dale Steyn-esque. But early days. His action has changed since his injury, which is disappointing as he had a nice looking action.

As I said, he took 8/70 in Melbourne on a pitch that was universally accepted as being unfit for a test match. When you take away that MOTM performance on a dodgy deck no one scored on, his overall performance has been average, and that includes the benefit of a short career with two series against Ireland and Zimbabwe.

His performance vs India on paper was decent, but the general take away was he bowled large spells of dross interlaced with the odd screamer, which helped his stats along. The NZ series was an example of what happens when no magic ball follows the dross.....