Pakistan v England 2015

England will play a Test in Sharjah for the first time after the schedule for their tour of UAE to face Pakistan in October and November was confirmed. The team will fly out to the Middle East just two weeks after the one-day series against Australia concludes.
The trip will include three Tests, which begins on October 13 in Abu Dhabi, followed by matches in Dubai and Sharjah. The Tests will be followed by four ODIs from November 11 to 20, before the tour concludes with a three-match T20 series held between November 26 and 30.
The confirmation of the tour schedule had faced delay due to tensions created by the links between Ten Sports, the host broadcaster, and the Essel Group, which has threatened to form a breakaway international league. ESPNcricinfo understands that pressure had been applied by the BCCI on other cricket boards not to play any series in which Ten Sports are the host broadcaster after the PCB recently signed a five-year deal with them.
On England's previous visit to UAE to play Pakistan - during which Pakistan whitewashed the Test series 3-0 but lost both the ODI and T20 contests - the internationals were split between Dubai and Abu Dhabi, but Sharjah returned as a Test venue in November 2011, nine years after it had previously hosted matches, and has since hosted matches involving Sri Lanka and New Zealand.

 

Tour dates
30 September: England team arrive
5-6 October: v Pakistan A, Sharjah CC
8-9 October: v Pakistan A, Sharjah CC
13-17 October: 1st Test, ZCS, Abu Dhabi
22-26 October: 2nd Test, Dubai Cricket Stadium
1-5 November: 3rd Test, Sharjah CC
8 November: One-day practice match, ZCS, Abu Dhabi
11 November: 1st ODI D/N, ZCS, Abu Dhabi
13 November: 2nd ODI D/N, ZCS, Abu Dhabi
17 November: 3rd ODI D/N, Sharjah CC
20 November: 4th ODI D/N, Dubai Cricket Stadium
23 November: T20 v UAE XI, ZCS, Abu Dhabi
26 November: 1st T20, Dubai Cricket Stadium
27 November: 2nd T20, Dubai Cricket Stadium
30 November: 3rd T20, Sharjah CC
1 December: England depart UAE

 

Moeen Ali could oust Adam Lyth as opener in the UAE with Rashid coming into the side to accommodate 2 spinners

 

Nottinghamshire batsman Alex Hales and Surrey all-rounder Zafar Ansari could make their England Test debuts in the UAE after being selected in the squad for the series against Pakistan.
Hales's county colleague James Taylor is also named, after impressing during the one-day series with Australia.
There is no place for Yorkshire's Gary Ballance and Adam Lyth, with the latter dropped after a poor Ashes series.

Test squad: Alastair Cook (Essex, captain), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), James Anderson (Lancashire), Zafar Ansari (Surrey), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Steven Finn (Middlesex), Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire), Liam Plunkett (Yorkshire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Ben Stokes (Durham), James Taylor (Nottinghamshire), Mark Wood (Durham).

 

ODI squad: Eoin Morgan (Middlesex, captain), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Sam Billings (Kent), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Steven Finn (Middlesex), Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), James Taylor (Nottinghamshire), Reece Topley (Essex), David Willey (Northamptonshire), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire), Mark Wood (Durham).

Twenty20 squad: Eoin Morgan (Middlesex, captain), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Sam Billings (Kent), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire), Chris Jordan (Sussex), Stephen Parry (Lancashire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), Reece Topley (Essex), James Vince (Hampshire), David Willey (Northamptonshire), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire), Mark Wood (Durham).

 

Pakistan Test squad
Ahmed Shehzad, Shan Masood, Azhar Ali, Mohammad Hafeez, Fawad Alam, Asad Shafiq, Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Younis Khan, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Yasir Shah, Zulfiqar Babar, Wahab Riaz, Imran Khan, Rahat Ali, Junaid Khan

 

All-rounder Samit Patel has been called up to the England squad for the Test series against Pakistan in the UAE, replacing the injured Zafar Ansari. Twenty-three-year-old Surrey left-arm spinner Ansari, uncapped in Tests, has been ruled out after dislocating a thumb playing against Lancashire.
Nottinghamshire's Patel, 30, made the last of his five Test appearances in December 2012 against India.

 

Moeen Ali impressed with the ball as England drew their opening tour game against Pakistan A in Sharjah.
The 28-year-old off-spinner, who made only 22 after being promoted to open the batting on day one, claimed 3-41 as Pakistan A closed on 216-5.
Iftikhar Ahmed (92 not out) and Fawad Alam (55) added 112, while Mark Wood and James Anderson took a wicket each.
England had made 286-5 in the first of two two-day matches before the three-Test series, starting on 13 October.
England 286-5 dec: Bairstow 66*, Root 59, Cook 53, Rashid 51*; Gohar 3-72
Pakistan A 216-5: Ahmed 92*, Alam 55; Moeen 3-41
Match drawn

 

Sorry but this is a farce - Pakistan end the day on 192-12!!

My advice - go over 2 days earlier and make the warm-up games 3 days not 2

Pakistan A 192 for 12 (Akmal 74*, Finn 4-16, Rashid 3-53) v England

 

England 198 (Taylor 61, Bell 53, Hamza 4-34) drew with Pakistan A 192 for 12 (Akmal 74*, Finn 4-16, Rashid 3-53

 

Moeen Ali was out twice on the final day of England's last warm-up match before the first Test against Pakistan.
With England looking for an opener to partner Alastair Cook, Moeen was out for seven and 12 against Pakistan A as the tourists batted through the day in Sharjah regardless of wickets lost.
Alex Hales was out for nine, while Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes both fell for nought as England mustered 198-11.
James Taylor impressed with 61 after initially retiring for 45.
Ian Bell also retired at lunch for 53, with captain Alastair Cook and vice-captain Joe Root not batting after spending time in the middle during the first warm-up

 

Pakistan are 286 for 4 at the end of Day 1 of the 1st test against England in Abu Dhabi
Pakistan 286 for 4 (Shoaib 124*, Hafeez 98)

 

England with all 1st innings wickets standing trail Pakistan by 467 runs at the end of Day 2
England 56 for 0 (Cook 39*, Moeen 15*) - Pakistan 523 for 8 dec (Malik 245, Shafiq 107, Stokes 4-57)

 

England with 7 1st innings wickets standing trail Pakistan by 233 runs at the end of Day 3 of the 1st Test in Abu Dhabi
England 290 for 3 (Cook 168*, Bell 63) - Pakistan 523 for 8 dec (Malik 245, Shafiq 107, Stokes 4-57)

I know that's a flat pitch, but with scoreboard pressure this was a great display of batting from the captain

 

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England pace bowler Steven Finn has been ruled out of the Test and one-day series against Pakistan with a stress injury of the left foot.
Sussex seamer Chris Jordan has been called up and will arrive in the United Arab Emirates during the first Test

 

Bring back timeless Tests.

If this one lasted 10 days, we might get a result - England knock off 550 needed to win in 200 overs for the loss of 6 wickets perhaps?

 

England with 2 1st innings wickets standing led Pakistan by 36 runs at the end of Day 4 of the 1st Test in Abu Dhabi
England 569 for 8 (Cook 263, Root 84, Bell 63) - Pakistan 523 for 8 dec (Malik 245, Shafiq 107, Stokes 4-57)

 

Alastair Cook produced the longest innings in England's Test history, and the third-longest of all time, to stamp his authority on the first Test against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi, and lay down a marker for his team's expectations in the next two Tests.
By the time he was finally dismissed, top-edging a sweep to square leg off the offspin of Shoaib Malik in the final 40 minutes of the fourth day's play, Cook had rumbled his way along to a monumental innings of 263 - his third Test double-century and second only to his 294 against India at Edgbaston in 2011.
In all he batted for 836 minutes, four minutes shy of 14 solid hours. The innings may have finished some way shy of Hanif Mohammad's 970-minute epic for Pakistan against West Indies in 1957-58, but it remains streets ahead of all other English contenders in Asian conditions - so often considered the final frontier for Western teams.
For Cook, however, these conditions are his home from home. Eight of his 28 Test hundreds have been recorded in Asia, equal to Jacques Kallis, whose runs-record of 2058 he also overhauled shortly before his dismissal

 

Almost tempted fate there