England

England will be touring Pakistan for Test matches for the first time since 2005. Lancashire all-rounder Liam Livingstone will be looking to make his Test debut, having been called up to a Test squad for the first time since England's tour of New Zealand in the spring of 2018. Lancashire opening batter Keaton Jennings returns to the Test squad for the first time since February 2019 after a stellar summer with the red rose county

Moeen Ali, who recently guided England to a historic T20I series win against Pakistan in Lahore leading the side in the absence of regular skipper Jos Buttler, had retired from Test cricket last September to prolong his white-ball career.

The 33-year-old Bairstow, who has been pivotal to England's Test resurgence this summer, broke his leg while walking to a tee box in an golf accident last month and was ruled out of the seven-match T20I series against Pakistan and the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia.

Managing just 145 runs in 19 overs, thanks to superb bowling effort from England pace bowler Mark Wood (3/20) and Sam Curran (2/23), the host were counting on luck to win the game, but all six Pakistan bowlers bowled exceptionally well to restrict the visitors to 139/7 to help the hosts take a 3-2 lead in the series.

India and Pakistan last played bilateral one-day international series in 2012-13 and have not played a Test series since 2007. Considering this situation, the ECB have offered to host India and Pakistan in a bilateral series, the UK Daily Telegraph reported on Tuesday. However, both the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) have not shown much interest in the proposal and rejected it.

Coming in to open the batting with Phil Salt in the third T20I at Karachi on September 23, Jacks scored a 22-ball 40 as he gave England the start they needed, with Ben Duckett (70 not out) and Harry Brook (81 not out) showing their batting prowess down the order as the visitors amassed a mammoth 221/3 in 20 over. England, riding on the fine performance of the three batters thrashed Pakistan by 63 runs on September 23.

In defence of 199/5, Ali, who had hit an unbeaten 55 with the bat, brought himself on for the 13th over and leaked 21 runs, including three sixes. Eventually, Pakistan captain Babar Azam struck an amazing 110 off 66 balls, and wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan hit 88 off 51 deliveries to chase down the total with all wickets intact and three balls remaining.

After winning the toss and opting to bat first, Alex Hales and Phil Salt put on a quickfire 42-run partnership in the first five overs for England. Salt got England up and running with a six against Mohammad Nawaz and Hales followed it up with a four and six in the next over. Shahnawaz Dahani turned it around for Pakistan in the final over of the Powerplay and was on a hattrick with the wicket of Hales and Dawid Malan.

England men's and women's teams will hoping to regain the Ashes following defeats in Australia last winter. The five-Test men's Ashes Series begins at Edgbaston on Friday, June 16 and continues at Lord's (June 28-July 2), Headingley (July 6-10), and Old Trafford (July 19-23) before the final Test at the Oval commencing on Thursday, July 27 and ending on July 31.

England had performed remarkably well in the 2021 edition of the T20 World Cup in the UAE but the side then led by Eoin Morgan had fallen to New Zealand in the semifinal. This time around, while the Test team under captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum has been doing great, the same cannot be said about the T20I side.