England, Pakistan Looks to Take Lead

Birmingham: After four-Test series is leveled by 1-1, England will take on Pakistan in 3rd Test in Edgbaston on Wednesday.

Pakistan touched hearts at Lord's, but their no-show in Old Trafford set the tongues wagging once again over the lame topic of subcontinental teams not being competitive enough in England.

However, after a short break which saw England players taking time off and a struggling touring side working desperately to get things in order by playing in a tour match, the rivalry will resume again at Edgbaston with serious question over Pakistan's middle-order that looks brittle.

The pitch at Old Trafford remained true to its nature -- England piled up close to 600 and Pakistan failed to cross 300 even once in their two innings, and Younis and Azhar's failures added to Pakistan's woes.

Nevertheless, after yet another solid show in the warm-up game against Worcestershire, Azhar Ali will once again be expect to make runs.

For England, Chris Woakes is having a dream series, which meant James Anderson and Stuart Broad have not been needed to fire all cylinders at another bouncy England wicket.

Ben Stokes' injury has opened one slot and England will be Jake Ball or Steven Finn may get to have another crack at Pakistan.

England's batting will once again be overly dependent on Alastair Cook and Joe Root.

Gary Ballance is yet to prove he is past his shortcomings and James Vince has been unwontedly flashy, and Alex Hales has lost the form and rhythm he gained against Sri Lanka earlier this English summer.

Teams from:

England: Alastair Cook (Capt.), Alex Hales, Joe Root, James Vince, Gary Ballance, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Steven Finn, Jake Ball and Adil Rashid

Pakistan: Misbah-ul-Haq (Capt.), Mohammad Hafeez, Shan Masood, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Yasir Shah, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Aamer, Rahat Ali, Zulfiqar Babar, Sohail Khan, Sami Aslam, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Rizwan and Imran Khan.

Match facts
3-7 August 2016
Start time: 1100 local (1000 GMT, 4pm Pak)

Scores	Upcoming	Results
South Africa vs India - 4th T20I 2nd T20I - Australia v Pakistan - November 16, 08:00 GMT 4th T20I - West Indies v England - November 16, 20:00 GMT 3rd T20I - West Indies v England at St. Lucia England won by 3 wickets (with 4 balls remaining) 1st T20I - Australia v Pakistan at Brisbane Australia won by 29 runs

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