Reuters
England's Ben Stokes [Source: Reuters]
England captain Ben Stokes will miss the opening test against Pakistan in Multan to continue his recovery from a hamstring injury, the 33-year-old said.
Batter Ollie Pope, who led England during the home series against Sri Lanka, will lead the tourists in the match beginning on Monday.
Stokes trained mostly alone before batting in the nets on Saturday before ruling himself out of the first of the three tests England will play in Pakistan.
Stokes was not sure if he would play the second test, also in Multan, starting on Oct. 15.
England announced their playing XI, which includes Durham seamer Brydon Carse, who will be making his test debut.
Left-arm spinner Jack Leach makes a return to the test set-up for the first time since the India tour in January, while opener Zak Crawley rejoins the team after fully recovering from a broken finger sustained during the summer.
Fresh from their 2-1 victory at home against Sri Lanka, England will be favourites in the three-match contest against a Pakistan side smarting from a 2-0 whitewash by Bangladesh last month.
England batter Joe Root, however, would not take any thing for granted.
England XI: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope (captain), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith, Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Jack Leach, Shoaib Bashir
