OVAL: England have won the toss and decided to bat first in the Oval Test.
England captain Alastair Cook won the toss and chose to bat on a surface which looks green at first look.
Alastair Cook says they had given “a lot of thought” to the decision but hoped it would be good to bat on if the first hour can be negotiated.
Also keen to bring spin into the equation in the fourth innings, though there’s no place for Adil Rashid or as England stick with an unchanged side. Misbah says he also wanted to bat first: “there’s some green grass on it but overall it’s a good pitch”.
Couple of changes for Pakistan, a debut for Iftikhar, who replaces Mohammad Hafeez but is likely to bat in the middle order, and Wahab Riaz coming back in for Rahat Ali, who has a knee niggle.
Wahab will have fond memories of The Oval, having taken a five-for on debut here six years ago as Pakistan recorded their sole victory of the tour.
England 1 Alastair Cook (capt), 2 Alex Hales, 3 Joe Root, 4 James Vince, 5 Gary Ballance, 6 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 Steven Finn, 11 James Anderson
Pakistan 1 Azhar Ali, 2 Sami Aslam, 3 Asad Shafiq, 4 Younis Khan, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Iftikhar Ahmed, 7 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), 8 Yasir Shah, 9 Wahab Riaz, 10 Mohammad Amir, 11 Sohail Khan
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