England’s coach Brendon McCullum has cautioned his side that replicating their 2022 success in Pakistan in the three-match Test series starting on Monday will be a tough task amid the “rocketing” heat of Multan.
England’s 3-0 victory in 2022 against Pakistan was McCullum’s first away series as head coach of the English team.
The series came as a shock for Pakistan as it was the first-ever series where an away cricket team managed to clinch a 3-0 victory against the team on their home soil.
Previously, the English had played 24 Tests in Pakistan, winning just two out of them making the 3-0 win much more remarkable.
For the three-match Test series, Pakistan seem to be vulnerable with their recent loss at home to Bangladesh by 2-0 but McCullum expects the side to bounce back and give England a tough time.
“What we achieved a couple of years ago was immense and we’re very proud of that achievement but if we look at the history of touring teams here in Pakistan, it is probably an outlier rather than anything else,” McCullum said as quoted by Independent.
The coach reiterated that he and his team are “realistic” and realise that they are going to play against a hard core nation.
“We’re very realistic as we come to the series, that we’re going to have to play well against a very proud sporting nation. Pakistan in their own conditions, as history would suggest, is a bloody tough task,” he added.
McCullum added that the Pakistani team is “going to be fiercely competitive to knock us over as well. It’s not going to be easy”.
Putting the skills and fierceness of the Pakistani cricketers aside, the series will pose further challenges for the English players who last played in the country in December 2022 when the weather was colder; not reminiscent of the sweltering heat of October.
The former New Zealand captain accepted that the temperatures were “chilled” when they last visited the country.
“I think it was about 20 degrees last time we came here. We had jumpers on in the morning and it chilled off at night time. The overhead conditions are a little bit more extreme, so that’s going to present its own challenges,” he said.
His players began familiarisation with the conditions of the country with customary rounds at the golf course and McCullum says it was indeed “very hot, very challenging”.
“The first couple of days we got here, when we were out on the golf course it was very hot, very challenging to hold on to your club so that was one of our biggest concerns. But since then we seem to have got used to it,” the coach added.
Playing XI’s for first Test:
Pakistan: Saim Ayub, Abdullah Shafique, Shan Masood (C), Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel (VC), Mohammad Rizwan (Wk), Salman Ali Agha, Aamir Jamal, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, and Abrar Ahmad.
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope (C), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith, Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinso, Brydon Carse (Debut), Jack Leach, and Shoaib Bashir.
Schedule:
Oct 7-11 – First Test, Multan
Oct 15-19 – Second Test, Multan
Oct 24-28 – Third Test, Rawalpindi
