Brydon Carse and Matthew Fisher have both been left out of England's 15-man squad for the third and final Test against Pakistan at Edgbaston. England are chasing a 3-0 series sweep, live from September 9-13 on Sky Sports, having thrashed the tourists by an innings and 103 runs at Headingley before claiming a 194-run victory at Lord's. Carse was withdrawn from the squad for the second Test, after the Cricket Regulator initiated a probe into an incident that saw the Durham player briefly arrested outside a Derby nightclub on August 22.
Derbyshire Police are looking into "allegations of assault" against the 31-year-old, with right-armer Sonny Baker retaining his place in Joe Root's squad as Carse's replacement, while Fisher misses out after being unused in the first two Tests. Carse was also left out of Durham's squad for their County Championship match against Northamptonshire, which began on Wednesday, due to 'pre-arranged workload management", despite finishing with match figures of 4-95 in their previous win over Gloucestershire. Speaking at Lord's last week, England captain Joe Root described himself as "hacked off" by the growing number of alcohol-related stories around the team, adding: "I've spoken to Brydon and when I first found out my first concern was him as a person.
"I don't think I'm speaking out of turn in saying he's very upset, very apologetic and understands his actions. I'm sure when he gets his chance, he will say that himself." Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player England's interim head coach Marcus Trescothick has indicated a preference to field his strongest possible side in pursuit of a 3-0 scoreline, rather than ring the changes. That means Baker and Sam Cook may be kept on the sidelines, unless it is decided that any of the in-form pace attack of Jofra Archer, Ollie Robinson, Josh Tongue and Atkinson need to be rested.
An inexperienced Pakistan outfit have been skittled for under 200 in all four innings so far, only batting beyond 50 overs once, with the relentless accuracy of Robinson - who finished with match figures of 8-35 in the second Test, backed up brilliantly by England's other seamers. England squad: Joe Root (Yorkshire, captain), Jofra Archer (Sussex), Gus Atkinson (Surrey), Sonny Baker (Hampshire), Shoaib Bashir (Derbyshire), Harry Brook (Yorkshire), Sam Cook (Essex), Jordan Cox (Essex), Ben Duckett (Nottinghamshire), Emilio Gay (Durham), Dan Lawrence (Surrey), Ollie Pope (Surrey), Ollie Robinson (Sussex), Jamie Smith (Surrey), Josh Tongue (Nottinghamshire) Pakistan have dropped seven players and two coaches from their touring squad following their series defeat to England and ahead of the final Test at Edgbaston. Mohammad Rizwan, Imam-ul-Haq - injured during the second Test defeat at Lord's - Salman Ali Agha, Ali Usman, Aamir Jamal, Muhammad Awais Zafar and Khurram Shahzad have all been sent home.
Sarfaraz Ahmed and Umar Gul have also been released and will be replaced by Mike Hesson and Ashley Noffke in the backroom staff. Seven replacements have been called up to the squad, including five uncapped players at Test level, with batters Saim Ayub and Abdullah Fazal having eight and two Test appearances, respectively. Left-arm spin-bowling all-rounder Arafat Minhas has represented Pakistan in white-ball cricket, with left-arm fast bowler Mohammad Imran Jnr, wicketkeeper-batter Saad Baig and pace-bowling all-rounders Mohammad Imran (also known as Imran Randhawa) and Razaullah the others brought in.
Pakistan Test squad for Edgbaston: Babar Azam (captain), Abdullah Fazal, Abdullah Shafique, Arafat Minhas, Azan Awais, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Ali, Muhammad Imran, Mohammad Imran Jnr, Muhammad Ghazi Ghori (wicket-keeper), Razaullah, Saad Baig (wicket-keeper) Saim Ayub, Sajid Khan, Saud Shakeel, Shan Masood and Ubaid Shah. Watch day one of England's third Test against Pakistan, from Edgbaston, live on Sky Sports Cricket and Sky Sports Main Event from 10am on Wednesday September 9 (11am first ball). Latest Sky Sports deals or stream contract-free with NOW.
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