ENG vs PAK 2026, ENG vs PAK 1st Test Match Preview

Big picture: Which team is in more turmoil? Serious question

Test cricket is back – not just in the UK, where it’s only been away for a few weeks (although plenty has gone on with England in the interim), but in Sri Lanka and Australia’s Northern Territory. Is it fair to say that England versus Pakistan is on the undercard? Given this is a contest between the teams sitting seventh and eighth in the current World Test Championship standings, it seems objectively true.

But then, as every sports fan knows, sometimes a relegation dogfight is a spectacle in and of itself. England have won two of their last ten Tests; Pakistan two of their last seven. England haven’t won a Test series since late 2024, the same as Pakistan (when they summoned up “Aaqib-ball” on the spot to help beat England). England’s last outing saw them lose a three-Test series at home for the first time since 2012. Pakistan, meanwhile, haven’t won a Test tour to these parts since 1996.

And that summary barely scratches the surface of the tumult on both sides. England’s home summer has seen a totemic, movement-inspiring captain retire mid-game, followed by the forced removal of a totemic, movement-inspiring coach (who had been fully backed just weeks before). The new leader is the same guy who did the job previously. The man currently holding the coaching reins is only doing so for this series, before a new guru takes over.

Pakistan, meanwhile, have been convulsed by change – even by their own standards. Since 2023-24, five different men have coached the Test side, including Jason Gillespie, Aaqib Javed (whose spin-heavy masterstroke against England brought Shan Masood his only series win as captain) and the incumbent, another former captain, Sarfaraz Ahmed. Masood’s grim tenure ended recently, with Babar Azam back in the role – having been dropped entirely the last time these two teams met. Or at least that was the plan, only for Babar’s hand injury to rule him out of the first Test, forcing Salman Agha to step up to the role for the first time in Tests.

All of which brings us, via a road as long and winding as any in the nearby dales, to Headingley, and the start of Joe Root’s second innings as captain. After seemingly months of endless heatwaves and drought, the rain returned in Leeds this week – grouchy skies above the city reflective of the mood of the game, when even a month of sunshine and sixes in the Hundred has barely changed the conversation around English cricket.

The show, as ever, must go on – and the Sunrisers Leeds signage around the ground has been swiftly replaced by England lions. The familiar debates will bubble back to the surface: is Root actually any good at captaincy? Can Emilio Gay cement the opener’s spot? Are Jordan Cox and Dan Lawrence ready to grasp their opportunities this time? How do England balance their XI in a post-Stokes world (for those who aren’t convinced the unretirement is coming)? What sort of mess is Stephen Fleming about to inherit?

Pakistan, despite their manifold issues, might spy for themselves a window of opportunity. They have traditionally had the tools to hurt England in their own conditions and, even in the absence of high pace this time around, possess a bowler in Mohammad Abbas whose surgical skills should come to the fore. If one of the driest UK summers on record results in more hospitable surfaces for spin, then haal could be just a step or two away.

In England, so the ECB says, Test cricket is still king. But Bazball is dead and the new world is struggling to be born. England, as ever, have one eye on the Ashes – though Root stressed the “unique” aspect of the current situation in his pre-match press conference: “One thing I think is really important for all of us is we don’t get too stuck in the last six months, and we don’t get too caught up in the next six months.”

That this series, as far as the standings go, looks more like a race to the bottom might make the contest all the more compelling.

Form guide

England LLWLW (last five Tests, most recent first)
Pakistan WLLLL

In the spotlight: Emilio Gay and Shan Masood

As if adjusting to the demands of opening in Test cricket wasn’t hard enough, Emilio Gay has had to try to find his feet amid the roiling off-field drama engulfing England. After two fifties in his first three innings, he suddenly found himself batting at No. 6 in the second dig against New Zealand at Trent Bridge, as Stokes led his unsuccessful charge of the Light Brigade. Unrequired for the Hundred, Gay suffered a shoulder injury while batting for Durham in the One-Day Cup and then made a pair playing for the PCC Select XI in Pakistan’s warm-up fixture at Beckenham. Further new-ball examinations at the hands of Abbas and co will tell us plenty about his long-term Test prospects.

Shan Masood has always been something of an anglophile, spending time as a youth growing up around St John’s Wood and regularly returning to play county cricket. Whether he is still smarting at being relieved of the captaincy ahead of this tour is unknown, but he responded back in the ranks with a century in Trinidad last month – albeit one that came in a losing cause, as well as saw him fracture a finger. He knows Headingley well, having spent two seasons with Yorkshire in which he averaged 53.91 in the County Championship. In Babar’s enforced absence will assume even greater responsibility for how Pakistan’s batting fares.

Team news: England wait on seamers; Babar ruled out

England have given clarity to the likes of Cox, who will bat at No. 3, and Lawrence, back as the spin-bowling allrounder two years after his last appearance opening the batting. As for the final XI, Root said they would reveal it “when it’s ready” – at the toss, basically – with England waiting to see how the likes of Gus Atkinson and Josh Tongue pull up after training, having only travelled to Leeds on Monday following their involvement in the Hundred final. If there are any concerns, they have Brydon Carse, Matthew Fisher and Sam Cook among a strong seam-bowling cadre.

England: (probable) 1 Emilio Gay, 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Jordan Cox, 4 Joe Root (capt), 5 Harry Brook, 6 Dan Lawrence, 7 Jamie Smith (wk), 8 Gus Atkinson, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 Ollie Robinson, 11 Josh Tongue

Sarfaraz fronted media duties for Pakistan to confirm Babar’s absence. Masood is fit to return from his own finger injury, however, and should join Saud Shakeel – back in the Test set-up after fitness issues and having scored a hundred at Beckenham – in bolstering the top order. The attack looks likely to feature three seamers, potentially including allrounder Aamer Jamal, with Ali Usman and his slow left-arms fulfilling spin duties alongside Salman.

Pakistan: (probable) 1 Azan Awais, 2 Imam-ul-Haq, 3 Abdullah Shafique, 4 Shan Masood, 5 Saud Shakeel, 6 Salman Agha (capt), 7 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 8 Aamer Jamal/Khurram Shahzad, 9 Ali Usman, 10 Mohammad Abbas, 11 Mohammad Ali

Pitch and conditions: Summer’s over, seamers to prosper?

The decks at Headingley were flying for the Hundred, as Sunrisers deployed their big-hitting template to good effect. For Tests, it is famously a look-up-not-down ground, with the forecast for rain showers (across days one and two) and cloud cover making it a more appealing prospect for the seamers. The surface also doesn’t tend to break up, with England successfully chasing down fourth-innings targets of 294, 251 and 371 in their last three visits.

Stats and trivia

Root already held the record for captaining England the most times in Tests (64 in his first stint, followed by the interim gig against New Zealand in June). If he stays in the job through to the end of the next Ashes, he will draw level with Fleming (80) in third on the all-time list.
England have won their last six Tests at Headingley, including beating Pakistan by an innings in 2018. Their last defeat came against West Indies the preceding summer – Root’s sixth Test as captain.
Pakistan’s last series win in England came in 1996. Since then, they have drawn three and lost three – most recently going down 1-0 in the Covid summer of 2020.

Quotes

“I don’t believe there is one way of playing Test cricket. I think you’ve got to be adaptable, you’ve got to play the situation and the different tempos of the game. It’s never the same throughout the five days, there are different challenges and you’ve got to adjust to the ebbs and flows of it. Of course, you want to put teams under pressure and find ways of driving the game forward but that might look different in different circumstances. It’s about recognising that and being skilful and intelligent enough to execute that at the right times.”
Joe Root signals the post-Bazball way forward for his side

“Our practice match [a seven-wicket victory] gave us a lot of confidence. Whatever bases we needed to cover with bat and ball, we did. We believe we’ll do very well here.”
Sarfaraz Ahmed was pleased with Pakistan’s preparation in Beckenham

Alan Gardner is a deputy editor at Cricinfo. @alanroderick

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