England’s heavy winter of international cricket begins on Tuesday when their tour of the UAE kicks off with a three match Test series against Pakistan ahead of some limited overs matches prior to another tour of South Africa.
With Pakistan not allowed to play international cricket in their own country it is the United Arab Emirates that will stage these three Tests.
It all begins in Abu Dhabi before both sides move to Dubai ahead of the series finishing in the famous Sharjah venue where England played a warm up match in the lead up to these Tests.
Both sides have played plenty of Test cricket in 2015. England have been to the West Indies and hosted both New Zealand and Australia while Pakistan have been to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Each won their most recent series so they should both be confident of landing this series.
We’ve seen some entertaining cricket involving England recently but the sheer nature of the tracks in the Emirates suggests we won’t see so much here but it will be interesting to see how England deal with these conditions having won in India not so long ago.
Pakistan won a high scoring series with Sri Lanka recently so we can expect their batting to hold up but with doubts over Yasir Shah for the first Test and Saeed Ajmal no longer an option it will be interesting to see if they can bowl England out.
I think this series is down to how well England bat. With a possible three prong spin attack England have the bowling to remain competitive but their batting has looked flaky for a while. Nathan Lyon has taken wickets against them in this format in recent times as have other spinners so that has to be a concern.
That concern is just enough for me to take a Pakistan side who seem to be underrated by the so called experts. They are solid with the bat, especially in these conditions, and are always skilful with the ball and they can win a series against an England side who look too flimsy with the willow.
A couple of side markets catch my eye ahead of this series too. Firstly the Top England Batsman market gets my interest.
Obviously whoever we take in these batsmen markets they have to be able to play spin. Usually I would look at Ian Bell and Joe Root with that in mind but the sheer fact that Moeen Ali has been confirmed to bat above both has to make him value at 6/1.
Moeen will get the quicker scoring overs against the seamers by opening and when the spinners come into play he won’t be fazed. Pakistan’s main two spinners are both going to be turning the ball into his pads which is an added benefit so I think at 6/1 the Worcestershire man is the one to be on.
It looks like this series will be Misbah-ul-Haq’s last in Pakistan white but it is another Pakistan veteran legend that I like for their top batsman in this series.
Younis Khan had a period where he couldn’t buy a run but he’s long over that now. He has big centuries in two of his last four Test matches and looking in the sort of form to cause England problems.
While others around him have the potential to get giddy Younis is such a patient player who is a wonderful player of spin. He won’t score particularly quickly but in the main he’ll score quicker than the main danger in Misbah so that is a positive.
A couple of players down the order like Asad Shafiq and Sarfraz Ahmed could go well but over the maximum of six innings it is Younis I like here.
Back Pakistan to win Test series for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Stan James
Back M.Ali Top England Series Batsman for a 2/10 stake at 7.00 with Ladbrokes
Back Y.Khan Top Pakistan Series Batsman for a 3/10 stake at 4.00 with Paddy Power
