England name unchanged squad for third Test against Pakistan at the Ageas Bowl

England have named an unchanged, 14-man squad for the third and final Test against Pakistan at the Ageas Bowl.

Head coach Chris Silverwood explained on Wednesday that England, who lead the series 1-0, are keen to keep “all options open” ahead of the match, which begins on Friday, live on Sky Sports Cricket, on a fresh pitch.

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The former seamer acknowledged that plans to rotate the bowlers during the series were under review after the home side bowled just 91.2 overs in the drawn second Test, which was plagued by rain and bad light.

It means that seamer James Anderson, who might have made way in this game after playing in four of the five Tests so far this summer, may get the chance to claim the seven wickets he needs to become the first Englishman to bag 600 Test scalps.

England went into the second Test without the extra pace offered by the rested Jofra Archer and Mark Wood, who was given an extra week’s rest to recover from a niggle.

Consequently Wood and Archer have not played in the same side since the first Test of the summer, which Root missed to attend the birth of his child, but the skipper insists that is not a source of frustration.

“One thing that we have got is we’ve got a fantastic squad of players that cover all conditions,” he said.

“They had an opportunity to play together at the start of the summer and I’m sure that it won’t be the last time that they do feature.

“If it doesn’t happen now then there will be other chances for them and for us to see that pair ahead of us going to places like Australia.

“The one thing we do have is a great group of bowlers now that we feel cover a number of different surfaces and challenges wherever we go in the world, and that’s a really exciting place to be.

“Whoever gets the opportunity to go out and play has to make sure they take their chance. With the competition that there is there, people have to keep proving their worth in the team.

“That’s not just the bowlers but the batters too; they need to keep pushing their case and make sure they’re driving their standards higher all of the time.”

Sam Curran and Chris Woakes claimed a wicket apiece in the second Test from 18 and 19 overs respectively but spinner Dom Bess did not bowl a delivery in the match, due to the seam-friendly conditions, while fellow slow bowler Jack Leach watched on from the sidelines.

With a winter tour to India likely to take place in the new year, Root admitted: “It hasn’t been a great summer [for the spinners] in terms of the amount of opportunity and that has come down to the wickets that we’ve had in front of us.

“It was very difficult to try and get a spinner on last week in those conditions with the limited play that we had as well.

“It has been quite frustrating and that’s not a dig at the groundstaff; it has been very difficult for them to produce three pitches each in such a short period of time.

“It would have been nice to have seen Dom, in particular, having the opportunity to make a real impact but I think that he’s done the best he can in the chances he’s had.”

England squad: Joe Root (Yorkshire) Captain, James Anderson (Lancashire), Jofra Archer (Sussex), Dominic Bess (Somerset), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Rory Burns (Surrey), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Zak Crawley (Kent), Sam Curran (Surrey), Ollie Pope (Surrey), Ollie Robinson (Sussex), Dom Sibley (Warwickshire), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire), Mark Wood (Durham).

Watch the third Test between England and Pakistan live on Sky Sports Cricket and across Sky’s digital platforms from 10.30am on Friday.

(c) Sky Sports 2020: England name unchanged squad for third Test against Pakistan at the Ageas Bowl