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England will face “very hot” temperatures above 40°C (104°F) for the two Test matches in Multan which will dictate how they use their fast attack.
Brendon McCullum, the head coach, highlighted the temperature as the main difference from the tour here two years ago, when England won 3-0. He tempered expectations of a repeat, calling the result an “outlier” and defended the decision to allow bowling coach James Anderson to miss the start of the Test series so he could play in a tournament pro-am golf course.
The summer heat is yet to dissipate in Multan and both teams will experience “extreme” air conditions on the ground, which will inevitably have a greater effect on the touring team.
Pakistan rarely play at home in October – only two Tests have taken place in the month since England toured here in 2000 – and if they do play in the intense summer heat, it is only against the accustomed Bangladesh to the weather.
It is noticeably warmer than when England was in Multan two years ago. Then England played in December when fog was a problem in the morning session. But now it’s a dry, unrelenting heat that poses a significant physical challenge for an inexperienced England attack away and the players have had little time to cool down after a long summer at home which ended there only a week old.
England held three morning training sessions and have yet to experience the intense heat of the afternoon sun, except on the golf course.
Player safety could be an issue. Matt Potts was hospitalized with shortness of breath, dizziness and vomiting when he suffered heat exhaustion at 37 degrees Celsius during an ODI in Durham, among others, two years ago.
Joe Root ended up in hospital for dehydration in Sydney in 2018 while batting in 42C heat. He also had a virus but the heat made his condition worse. It was sweltering and led Dean Jones to call for cricket to introduce a heat policy, treating extreme temperatures as a danger to players’ health.
Potts bowled just four overs at Durham; a Test match will be much more demanding with seamers playing three or four spells a day and captain Ollie Pope will have to manage the workload of Chris Woakes, 35, who has not played an overseas Test at Bazball era, debutant Brydon Carse and Gus Atkinson, who stopped during the oval test a month ago.
“It’s very hot compared to the 20 degrees it was the last time we were here. We wore sweaters in the morning and relaxed at night,” McCullum said. “The first few days we got here, when we were on the golf course, it was very hot, it was very difficult to hold your club. It seemed like we had gotten used to it. Guys don’t sweat as much. We just have to be smart about how we rotate [the seamers] and identify moments in matches where we can bring them in and try to make a significant difference. And he’s trying to do all the right things in terms of keeping guys’ core temperatures down.
Anderson joined the tour on the second day of the first Test after receiving permission to play in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland, leaving the team without a bowling coach for the first week of the tour. “Jimmy is in constant communication with the guys and he has the right to live his life, like everyone else,” McCullum said. “We always seek to ensure that people can have fun, enjoy their family life, their hobbies and their entertainment. He will be there for the second day. I don’t think it’s a big problem.
England’s stunning 3-0 win here was the first time Pakistan had been whitewashed at home. Their Test captain, Shan Masood, on Sunday described England as “pioneers” and that Bazball had an “effect on the world”.
McCullum acknowledges, however, that this result put the bar out of reach. “What we achieved a few years ago was immense and we are very proud of it, but if we look at the history of touring teams here in Pakistan, it is probably an exception, so we are very realistic in approaching the series. This is not going to be easy.
A review of England’s new seam attack
Joe Root is on the cusp of new history in the first Test against Pakistan, but it is the performance of the bowlers over the next three weeks that will determine the success of this tour.
Root needs 71 more runs to surpass Sir Alastair Cook as England’s top scorer in Test cricket. His continued consistency after a successful summer will be crucial and England’s batting is stronger with Zak Crawley returning from injury.
But the seam attack that took England to a 3-0 whitewash in Pakistan two years ago – a series that truly started the Bazball train – has changed beyond recognition and will face a challenge very difficult.
James Anderson was forced to retire and become a coach. Ollie Robinson is sent off after one broken promise too many and Mark Wood is injured.
England, despite years of evidence, gambled on Chris Woakes performing overseas and knocking down a bowling average of 51.88 on foreign pitches to lead the attack, as Anderson did in 2022.
Woakes has not played a Test in Asia since 2016, is now 35 and has suffered some debilitating injuries in recent years. The grueling heat of Multan makes it a demanding task for the seamers who arrive in the series in the wake of the English autumn, with no time to practice.
Brydon Carse, a big bowler who hit hard in the field and reached 90 mph during the one-day series against Australia, provides Robinson’s bounce. He can be expensive and isn’t as skilled as Robinson, but he could be a very effective battering ram. He has performed like a cricketer with something to prove since his recall after serving a three-month playing ban. It is this hunger that Robinson must rediscover.
Gus Atkinson will play his first Test overseas and is close to Robinson in terms of skill, but with added pace. He has played sharply in practice and appears free from the thigh injury he picked up in the third Test against Sri Lanka, a result of overexertion more than anything else. If he and Carse click, they could form a relentless duo, hitting the seam at the pace England so desperately want to cultivate ahead of the Ashes.
England’s Pace Bowling project, details of which were revealed by Telegraph Sport last week, is a detailed piece of work that backs up Rob Key’s insistence that speed is key.
It shows that it takes 92 balls for seamers operating at a speed of 81-83 mph to take wickets on Pakistan pitches. It drops to 54.6 for those at 85-87 mph, where Atkinson and Carse throw the majority of their balls. It is the seam, not the swing, that is important at Test level on the flat pitch and the England attack has these attributes: all are experts in handling the swinging seam ball that bowling coach Anderson used with such effect two years ago.
“A great opportunity for the group we have here”
Ben Stokes’ captaincy was crucial to England taking 20 wickets on each of Pakistan’s three flat pitches two years ago, with his bold thinking speeding up matches. Stokes knows perfectly well how to read when to push and when to hold back, something his replacement Ollie Pope struggled with in the Sri Lanka series. England will learn a lot from their young seamers but also from Pope, and whether he learns quickly after making mistakes in a poor third Test for England against Sri Lanka at the Oval.
“It’s a great opportunity for the bowling group we have here. You watch Woakesy lead the attack, his away record is obviously quite public, but he’s determined to improve that,” Stokes said. “Running the offense gave him that confidence. We saw Brydon Carse come into the white ball team and he did incredibly well. We don’t need to talk too much about Gus Atkinson because he had an exceptional summer.
“So I think it’s really exciting for the guys to come here and be exposed to these conditions for the first time. This will show them how difficult Test cricket can be. It’s difficult anyway, but coming to the subcontinent and Pakistan when it’s 30°C and 40°C, you need character, and we have a lot of characters in our dressing room who will be ready to take on the challenge of playing. Test cricket here.
Shan Masood, the Pakistan captain, has asked the groundsmen to produce pitches that help his seamers and there is a tinge of green on the Multan surface. But it won’t last long once the burlap cover is removed and baked in the sun on the first day for a few hours. The outfield is lush, so the reverse swing will be difficult to manufacture. This is likely to change from day one, regardless of what Masood says.
Jack Leach is back for England, his first Test since January, and has something to prove after losing his No.1 spinner status to Shoaib Bashir. The two Somerset men play together for the first time for England and give England a rounded attack.
Multan is not an easy place for tourists. Security is high, everyone is tied to the hotel unless traveling with the Punjab Elite Force armed guard. It promises to be a tough and grueling few weeks for England, but they will learn a lot about their bowling situation a year after leaving for Australia.
