Pakistan win toss, bat against England in first Test

Pakistan captain Shan Masood won the toss and chose to bat on the opening day of the first Test against England in Multan on Monday.

Ollie Pope leads England after Ben Stokes was ruled out with fast bowler Brydon Carse, 29, making his Test debut just weeks after the end of a three-month ban for breaches of betting rules.

Both the teams have picked three fast bowlers and two spinners in a hope that the pitch will offer early help to the seamers before taking spin later in the match.

Pakistan are on a streak of 10 winless Tests at home, including a shock 2-0 sweep by Bangladesh last month, while England have won five of their last six matches in the longest format.

Pakistan: Shan Masood (c), Abdullah Shafique, Saim Ayub, Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan, Salman Agha, Aamer Jamal, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, Abrar Ahmed

England: Ollie Pope (c), Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith, Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Jack Leach, Shoaib Bashir

Umpires: Kumar Dharmasena (SRI) and Sharfuddoula Saikat (BAN)

TV umpire: Chris Gaffaney (NZL)

Match referee: Richie Richardson (WIS)