England to start third Test against Pakistan | Thebigtip

England are just hours away from starting the third Test against Pakistan at the Brit Oval, hoping to increase their lead to an unassailable 3-0 in the Four-Test series.

England will be unchanged from the side which claimed comfortable wins over today's opposition at Trent Bridge and Edgbaston, whilst Pakistan are set to make four changes to the side humiliated by nine wickets nine days ago.

The injured pair of Umar Gul and wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider, one of only two Pakistan players to emerge from the Edgbaston defeat with any credit, will be replaced whilst Mohammed Yousuf is likely to make a return, just five months after being handed an 'indefinite ban' from the PCB. Yasir Hameed is also in line for a recall.

To add to the spicy mix, this will also be Pakistan's first return to the Oval since the farcical abandoned Test in August 2006, where the Pakistan players refused to play after umpire Daryl Hair accused them of ball-tampering.

England will be hoping to claim their sixth successive Test win and will do so with the under pressure Alastair Cook and Graham Swann. Cook has been in wretched form this summer scoring just 100 runs in seven innings against Pakistan and Bangladesh at an average of 14.28.

Swann is under a different kind of pressure, as he recently appeared in court accused of drink-driving. However, Swann will be hoping to put that to the back of his mind as he attempts to follow on from his performance in Pakistan's second innings of the second Test where he took 6/65 to set up England's win.

Pakistan, meanwhile, will be trying to salvage some pride from a tour of England which included a landmark win over Australia in Salman Butt's first game as skipper.

The return of one of their greatest ever batsmen ought to inject some belief into a squad which at times have looked way out of their depth- a sad state of affairs for a team which, until recently, included such players as Shahid Afridi, Mohammed Yousuf, Younis Khan and Inzamam Ul-Haq. Pakistan could also be inspired by their previous visit to England in which Yousuf topped the batting averages with an astonishing 90.14 including a double century.

Following this match, the two teams have just three days rest before the final Test at Lords on 26th August.

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