England win toss, hand debuts to five players under first-time captain Ben Stokes
England is debuting five players under first-time captain Ben Stokes against Pakistan on Thursday in a day-night one-day international at Sophia Gardens. The toss was won by Stokes, who decided to bowl first.
An entirely new England squad was scrambled together on Tuesday, a day after the main squad recorded seven positive tests for the coronavirus spread among players and staff. The rest also had to go into isolation as trace contacts. They are expected to be available for the Twenty20 series after the three ODIs.
Players were pulled from the County Championship, and former players and rested players recalled.
Debuts were given to opener Phil Salt, first drop batsman Zak Crawley, wicketkeeper John Simpson and allrounder Lewis Gregory in the middle order, and fast bowler Brydon Carse.
“A strange situation,” Stokes said, “but to pick a team of this caliber shows we're in a good place.”
Pakistan is giving a debut to left-hander Saud Shakeel in the middle order after Haris Sohail returned home after tearing a hamstring in training.
Lineups:
England: Phil Salt, Dawid Malan, Zak Crawley, James Vince, Ben Stokes (captain), John Simpson, Lewis Gregory, Craig Overton, Brydon Carse, Saqib Mahmood, Matt Parkinson.
Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam (captain), Mohammad Rizwan, Saud Shakeel, Sohaib Maqsood, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf.
