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XtraTime Web Desk: Hosts England cricket knows it very well that a slow start in the first test may cost them the series as Joe Root’s men go in search for their first series win over Pakistan in a decade.

The first match of the three-match Test series between England on Pakistan is set to begin from Wednesday at Old Trafford. England may take positives from their last test series against West Indies a few days ago, but their last such success against Pakistan was back in 2010.

That campaign, however, was overshadowed by a 'spot-fixing' scandal at Lord's which led to bans and jail terms for then Pakistan captain Salman Butt as well as pacemen Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir.

England have lost the first Test in eight of their last 10 series -- including during last month's 2-1 win over the West Indies that marked international cricket's return from the coronavirus lockdown.

It is a statistic they are all well aware of, with in-form England pacemen Chris Woakes admitting: "I'd love to be able to put my finger on it and I'm sure the management and the team would as well.

"It's not coincidence but it's almost, it is just a coincidence that we can keep losing that first Test match.

"But we want to put that right," he added, with the eyes of the global cricket community set to turn to Manchester in the absence of any other major international fixtures outside of England amid the pandemic.

Both of Pakistan's past two series in England -- 2016 and 2018 -- ended in draws, which should encourage the tourists this time even though they go into the first Test on the back of just a couple of intra-squad warm-up fixtures compared to their 'match-hardened' hosts.

"We've had good preparations and team bonding," said Pakistan coach Misbah-ul-Haq on Monday.

"Still we feel there is always a slight nervousness when you just play Test cricket after a long, long time (away)," he added ahead of his side's first Test in six months.

Misbah accepted that how his batsmen coped with James Anderson and Stuart Broad -- who now both have more than 500 Test wickets each after Broad reached the landmark against the West Indies -- would go a long way to determining the outcome of the series.

But the former Pakistan captain was also excited by a pace attack that includes the youthful promise of teenage rising star Naseem Shah as well as the accurate Mohammad Abbas,and towering left-armer Shaheen Shah Afridi.

Naseem has impressed Pakistan fast-bowling great turned bowling Waqar Younis and Misbah so much when they saw him in action in Lahore, the coach said they had no qualms about fast-tracking a "complete bowler" into Pakistan's side in Australia last year.

Naseem became the youngest bowler to take a Test hat-trick against Bangladesh in February and he showed a liking for English conditions with 10 wickets in the two practice matches at Derby.
"He is one who could win a Test match on his own," said Misbah of Naseem.

Pakistan, however, could still deploy two spinners at Old Trafford in Yasir Shah and Shadab Khan.

The West Indies failed to post a single individual century in their recent series. Pakistan will hope the likes of Abid Ali, the first man to score a hundred on both Test and one-day international debut, Shan Masood, Azhar Ali, Babar Asam and Asad Shafiq can provide the runs they need. Meanwhile England must decide whether to stick with four quicks in their XI after Ben Stokes couldn't bowl in the West Indies decider because of a quad injury.

The star all-rounder was, however, reported to have bowled with good pace in the nets on Monday.

England Squad: Joe Root (c), James Anderson, Jofra Archer, Dominic Bess, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Sam Curran, Ollie Pope, Dom Sibley, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood

Reserve players: James Bracey, Ben Foakes, Jack Leach, Dan Lawrence

Pakistan's 16-man squad:

Azhar Ali, Babar Azam, Abid Ali, Asad Shafiq, Fawad Alam, Imam-ul-Haq, Kashif Bhatti, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan, Naseem Shah, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood, Sohail Khan, Yasir Shah