The fourth Test will start from July 23 in Manchester.
England have declared their playing XI for the fourth Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. The Test match is scheduled to start on July 23, and will be played in Manchester at Old Trafford. The hosts lead the series by 2-1 after an emphatic victory at the Home of Cricket last week. After a break of a few days, the team will be raring to go. Ben Stokes & Co. have a chance to seal the series in the fourth Test. There is just a solitary change in the England playing XI, with Liam Dawson being roped in for the injured Shoaib Bashir. The latter suffered an injury to his left finger in the third Test and has been ruled out of the remainder of the series.
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Dawson, an all-rounder, last made a Test appearance in 2017 against South Africa in Nottingham. He has played three Tests in his brief career, one of which has come against India. Dawson scored an unbeaten 66* against India in Chennai in 2016, an innings that helped England revive their innings. Having him in place of Shoaib Bashir will surely add more solidarity to England’s batting, and also give them an off-spinning option which they would have missed otherwise.
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The inclusion of Liam Dawson might end up becoming a headache for the visitors. Apart from his bowling, which is his strong forte, the all-rounder also possesses great batting skills. These skills were on display when he played against India in Chennai. In 29 Youth ODI matches, Dawson has registered 37 wickets and has also scored 281 runs. With India’s bowling short of Akash Deep and Arshdeep Singh, someone like Prasidh Krishna might have to up the ante and take responsibility. England just need one counter-punch to stamp their authority over the series, and they would be itching to do that before taking matters into the fifth Test.
England have been able to capitalise on the pressure moments in the series so far. Ben Stokes has led the team with a lot of heart. The English skipper was persistent with his bowling on Day 5 of the third Test at Lord’s. The batting looked nicely poised after Joe Root came to the party in the recent match. With Dawson in the scheme of things now, the top-order will look to play much more aggressively, because of the cushion in the lower-order. It will be a matter of batting for longer durations of time, like India did in the second Test. But the surface in Manchester is set to be on the slower side, and it will be interesting to see how the teams adapt to that.
England Playing XI for the fourth Test: Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (capt), Jamie Smith (wk), Liam Dawson, Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse and Jofra Archer
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