CARDIFF, United Kingdom: England gave debuts to five players for the first one-day international against Pakistan in Cardiff on Thursday after they were forced to field an entirely new XI following a coronavirus outbreak.
The original squad chosen for this three-match series had to go into isolation, leaving the 50-over world champions having to announce a brand new group just 48 hours before Thursday’s clash at Sophia Gardens.
Test batsman Zak Crawley was included together with Wales-born Phil Salt, now of Sussex, Somerset all-rounder Lewis Gregory, Durham fast bowler Brydon Carse and Middlesex wicketkeeper John Simpson.
Ben Stokes, captaining England after being rushed back from a finger injury, won the toss and elected to field.
Pakistan gave a debut to middle-order batsman Saud Shakeel.
“I am not a massive wicket watcher but we’ve been a successful team bowling first,” said Stokes at the toss.
“Just because we’ve got a change of personnel doesn’t mean we’ll change our ways.
“It’s an exciting time for everyone involved at the moment. It’s a strange situation to be involved in but we’ve got an amazing crop of talent and if something like this comes along and we can pick a team of this calibre then that shows we’re in a good place.”
Stokes, however, struggled to remember all rhe players in England’s new-look XI.
“We’ve got five debutants. John Simpson, Phil Salt, Brydon Carse and... I should know this, I’ve just done the cap presentation... can someone help me out?“
Pakistan captain Babar Azam added: “We are looking forward to the game and this is a beautiful ground, we play well here.
“We have Saud Shakeel making his debut and Sohaib Maqsood coming back after five years.
TEAMS
England: Phil Salt, Dawid Malan, Zak Crawley, James Vince, Ben Stokes (capt), John Simpson (wkt), Lewis Gregory, Craig Overton, Brydon Carse, Saqib Mahmood, Matt Parkinson
Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam (capt), Mohammad Rizwan (wkt), Saud Shakeel, Sohaib Maqsood, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf
