Mickey Arthur eager to see ‘phenomenal’ Amir exploit England

Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur has expressed his intent to take on England in the upcoming two Tests series, as the hosts continue to suffer from selection uncertainty.  

“They have got two wonderful opening bowlers and Joe Root and Alastair Cook are wonderful players. Jonny Bairstow’s a fantastic cricketer. But then there are other little issues. Who do they bring in? Who’s their supporting seamer? Chris Woakes was superb against us two years ago, but does he play or does Mark Wood play? Does Moeen Ali start, or do they go with Jack Leach?” Arthur told the Daily Mail.

Arthur was of the view that the hosts do enjoy the home advantage but was of the view that England would need to address their issues.

The head coach then informed that he is hopeful for fast bowler Mohammad Amir to get them the series momentum. “He’s a phenomenal bowler and we’re just hoping he gets that one spell that kickstarts the series for us,’ said Arthur. England have been warned,” he said.

Talking about his side, Arthur said that despite being a young side, the team will go into the series with the memories of the 2-2 drawn test series two years ago for inspiration.

“There are some players here who were part of that, they did exceptionally well. Asad Shafiq got a hundred at The Oval and is leading our batting. Azhar Ali got a hundred at Edgbaston.”

“They’re our senior players now – the others bat round them. Haris Sohail and Babar Azam are very good players. Imam-ul-Haq will become a good player. We bat quite deep, and we’ll draw on that,” added Arthur.

Pakistan will play two Tests against England at Lord’s from May 24 to May 28 and Headingley from June 1 to June 5.