England’s Test skipper, Ben Stokes is fully appreciative of wicketkeeper Ben Foakes.
Foakes was a part of the playing XI in the first Test at Rawalpindi but pulled out at the last minute.
Foakes is in the running for the second Test at Multan.
They have brought in Mark Wook in place of the injured Liam Livingstone.
Stokes has time and again called Foakes ‘the best wicketkeeper in the world’ and has discouraged the latter to not think too much about his omission from the team.
In place of Foakes, Ollie Pope will be keeping wickets as he did in the first Test England won by 74 runs.
Says Stokes,
The selection is just for this Test. I’ll still keep saying he’s the best keeper in the world, so it must sound silly for us to not pick him.
Adding further, he says,
Adding Mark Wood into the side gives us a better chance of taking 20 wickets. We did say to Ben to not take this as anything for the future.
Wood has been a great bowler for England across formats and has picked up 195 wickets so far.
He has however not played a Test match since March this year.
Wood also was instrumental in helping England win the ICC T20 World Cup although he did not feature in the semi-final and final of the tournament.
Says Stokes on Wood,
Having someone in your squad who can bowl at 150 km/h is a massive bonus for any team around the world, especially as Pakistan is a very hard place to come and win.
If England manages to win the Multan Test against Pakistan, it will be their first series win outside of the UK in 22 years.
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