Pakistan picked two leg-spinners and Azhar Ali chose to bat after winning the toss in the first Test against an unchanged England side at Old Trafford on Wednesday.

Shadab Khan was selected along with Yasir Shah to give Azhar a pair of leg-spinners to call upon, with Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah and Mohammad Abbas the seamers in a dangerous attack.

England went with the same team that sealed a 2-1 series victory over West Indies at the same venue last week, Ben Stokes strictly playing as a batsman due to a quad injury.

Dom Bess did not bowl a single ball in that win over the Windies in Manchester, but the spinner retains his place in the first of three Tests.

The in-form Stuart Broad and James Anderson will again spearhead the England attack and will be hoping to make early inroads in Pakistan's first Test since February.

 

England team: Dom Sibley, Rory Burns, Joe Root (captain), Ben Stokes, Ollie Pope, Jos Buttler (wicketkeeper), Chris Woakes, Dom Bess, Stuart Broad, Jofra Archer, James Anderson.

Pakistan team: Shan Masood, Abid Ali, Azhar Ali (captain), Babar Azam, Asad Shafiq, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Yasir Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Abbas, Naseem Shah.