KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — England’s cricketers won the toss and elected to field on Tuesday in their first international in Pakistan for 17 years.
England is touring Pakistan for the seven-match Twenty20 series to build up for next month’s World Cup in Australia.
Moeen Ali is captaining the touring team in the country of his roots because Jos Buttler is still recovering from a calf injury and expected to feature in only one or two games in the series.
Opening batter Alex Hales returns to the England fold after 3-1/2 years while left-arm fast bowler Luke Wood was awarded his T20 debut.
“It’s massive for us and massive for Pakistan as well,” Ali said at the toss. “I’ve not been to Pakistan much in my life so to represent England as captain here is amazing.”
Left-handed batter Shan Masood will make his T20 debut for Pakistan in place of the injured Fakhar Zaman.
Pakistan has rested vice-captain Shadab Khan for the opening game and included leg-spinner Usman Qadir.
England will wear black armbands in memory of Queen Elizabeth II.
Pakistan: Babar Azam (captain), Mohammad Rizwan, Haider Ali, Shan Masood, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Usman Qadir, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Shahnawaz Dahani.
England: Alex Hales, Phil Salt, Dawid Malan, Ben Duckett, Harry Brook, Moeen Ali (captain), Sam Curran, David Willey, Luke Wood, Adil Rashid, Richard Gleeson.
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