Pakistan assistant coach Waqar Younis has urged his team to take advantage of England being without Ben Stokes for the second Test as the tourists aim to level the three-match series.
England all-rounder and vice-captain Stokes is heading to New Zealand, where his father is recovering from a serious illness, and will miss both the second Test, which starts on Thursday, as well as the series finale, both at Southampton.
As well as being a good enough batsman to feature in the top order, paceman Stokes is capable of match-changing spells with the ball and is an inspirational figure within the England set-up.
He cemented the position last year during England's World Cup final triumph and in leading the side to a stunning one-wicket win in the third Test against Australia at Headingley with an unbeaten century.
Stokes, however, had a modest match with the bat during England's the last week, where he wasn't fully fit to bowl because of a quad injury.
But fast-bowling great Waqar, now coaching the current generation of Pakistan quicks, was in no doubt England would be poorer for Stokes' absence.
"If he's not around it's unfortunate for cricket but there is no doubt he is a match-winner," Waqar said. "If he's not around England will probably be a touch light in their middle order, so we're going to try to cash in.
"He's the kind of batsman who takes the game away from you, single-handedly at times. But the way we bowled at him in the previous game showed we had very clear plans and executed really well."
Stokes' absence has led to a call-up for uncapped Sussex seamer Ollie Robinson, has been included in England’s 14-man squad.
Robinson, who trained with the squad during the West Indies series, has been outstanding in the domestic game in recent seasons – the most prolific among any pace bowler with 137 wickets across the 2018 and 2019 campaigns.
Whether or not Robinson comes into contention for a first international appearance could depend on how the remainder of the seam attack shapes up after a congested summer of Test cricket.
England will assess the fitness of Stuart Broad and Chris Woakes, both on fine form but with three Test appearances in less than four weeks, as well as James Anderson, Jofra Archer and Mark Wood.
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Gallery: England win first Test against Pakistan
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England captain Joe Root would not confirm how the team would line up but did reveal that, barring any late setbacks, Anderson would be among the XI.
Anderson, 38, dismissed suggestions he was contemplating retirement after a moderate showing at his home ground last time out and will be given an immediate chance to bounce back.
“Jimmy is likely to play, yes. Wouldn’t you give him the opportunity with nearly 600 wickets?” Root said.
“To get that stuff off his chest and talked about has definitely helped him. With Jimmy it won’t be long before he’s right back at the peak of his powers and I’m very much looking forward to him performing this week. I don’t think it will be long before he’s got another five-for beside his name.”
U19 WORLD CUP, WEST INDIES
UAE group fixtures (all in St Kitts)
- Saturday 15 January: UAE beat Canada by 49 runs
- Thursday 20 January: v England
- Saturday 22 January: v Bangladesh
UAE squad:
Alishan Sharafu (captain), Shival Bawa, Jash Giyanani, Sailles
Jaishankar, Nilansh Keswani, Aayan Khan, Punya Mehra, Ali Naseer, Ronak Panoly,
Dhruv Parashar, Vinayak Raghavan, Soorya Sathish, Aryansh Sharma, Adithya
Shetty, Kai Smith
Tips for taking the metro
- set out well ahead of time
- make sure you have at least Dh15 on you Nol card, as there could be big queues for top-up machines
- enter the right cabin. The train may be too busy to move between carriages once you're on
- don't carry too much luggage and tuck it under a seat to make room for fellow passengers
Scoreline
Bournemouth 2
Wilson 70', Ibe 74'
Arsenal 1
Bellerin 52'
PROFILE
Name: Enhance Fitness
Year started: 2018
Based: UAE
Employees: 200
Amount raised: $3m
Investors: Global Ventures and angel investors
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Saturday
Borussia Dortmund v Eintracht Frankfurt (5.30pm kick-off UAE)
Bayer Leverkusen v Schalke (5.30pm)
Wolfsburg v Cologne (5.30pm)
Mainz v Arminia Bielefeld (5.30pm)
Augsburg v Hoffenheim (5.30pm)
RB Leipzig v Bayern Munich (8.30pm)
Borussia Monchengladbach v Freiburg (10.30pm)
Sunday
VfB Stuttgart v Werder Bremen (5.30pm)
Union Berlin v Hertha Berlin (8pm)
THE BIO
BIO:
Born in RAK on December 9, 1983
Lives in Abu Dhabi with her family
She graduated from Emirates University in 2007 with a BA in architectural engineering
Her motto in life is her grandmother’s saying “That who created you will not have you get lost”
Her ambition is to spread UAE’s culture of love and acceptance through serving coffee, the country’s traditional coffee in particular.
Ipaf in numbers
Established: 2008
Prize money: $50,000 (Dh183,650) for winners and $10,000 for those on the shortlist.
Winning novels: 13
Shortlisted novels: 66
Longlisted novels: 111
Total number of novels submitted: 1,780
Novels translated internationally: 66
White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
Get Out
Director: Jordan Peele
Stars: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Catherine Keener, Bradley Whitford
Four stars
The UN General Assembly President in quotes:
YEMEN: “The developments we have seen are promising. We really hope that the parties are going to respect the agreed ceasefire. I think that the sense of really having the political will to have a peace process is vital. There is a little bit of hope and the role that the UN has played is very important.”
PALESTINE: “There is no easy fix. We need to find the political will and comply with the resolutions that we have agreed upon.”
OMAN: “It is a very important country in our system. They have a very important role to play in terms of the balance and peace process of that particular part of the world, in that their position is neutral. That is why it is very important to have a dialogue with the Omani authorities.”
REFORM OF THE SECURITY COUNCIL: “This is complicated and it requires time. It is dependent on the effort that members want to put into the process. It is a process that has been going on for 25 years. That process is slow but the issue is huge. I really hope we will see some progress during my tenure.”
