White-ball English talent Liam Livingstone has been handed a Test debut after impressing Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum.
The series will also see the long-awaited return for opening batter Ben Duckett.
Known for his explosive batting, Livingstone is also very capable with ball in hand taking six wickets in ODI games and 15 in T20I games.
His batting has been action-packed, with the same number of fours and sixes in ODI cricket with 17. Livingstone has an average of 31.25 in one dayers. The same boundary statistic is also found in T20I games, averaging 22.26 with the bat scoring 25 fours and 25 sixes.
“It was a pretty simple conversation I had with him (Liam Livingstone), actually before we went out to Australia for the World Cup,” captain Ben Stokes said.
“Obviously I told him where we stood in terms of him playing some red-ball cricket in the subcontinent.”
“With the skill he has with the ball and the way he plays with the bat is very aligned with how me and Baz (Brendon McCullum) want to see the team play. He jumped at the opportunity.”
“He's a very natural cricketer, he's going to go out there and really express himself. So, yeah, looking forward to seeing him in the whites.”
Stokes is right, the sub-continent is somewhere Livingstone has previously thrived. Averaging 63.00 with the bat in ODI matches, with an impressive 6.66 economy with the ball. His economy is even better in T20I games at 5.73.
As for Duckett, he hasn't played since featuring in 2016 against India. But he has impressed with a County Championship Division 2 average of 72.28 last season.
“Ducky (Ben Duckett) showed out here in the T20s just how good he is against spin bowling,” Stokes said.
“To have someone at the top like him who can mess around with the fields and make it a captain's nightmare because he sweeps both ways, and we know how much of a part spin plays out in this area.”
“(We are) excited to have him at the top.”
England's XI v Pakistan: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes, Ben Foakes, Liam Livingstone, Ollie Robinson, Jack Leach, James Anderson.
Captain Ben Stokes has additionally announced his match earnings will be donated to the Pakistan flood appeal after the natural disaster earlier this year.
“There are bigger things to life than cricket. The floods were devastating to the country, and me coming out here and representing my country, bringing the sport back to the nation,” he said.
“There are things that go on in life that are bigger than sport and I felt compelled just to give something back that is bigger than cricket.”
It is England's first Test in Pakistan for 17 years.
England take on Pakistan in a three-game Test series starting Thursday December 1, beginning at 4pm (AEDT).
