Who should England pick to face Pakistan?

It's been a long time since England played a Test match - 22nd August to be precise when they completed a resounding 4-0 victory over India at The Oval. 

Since then every other Test playing country - even regrettably Zimbabwe - have been in action whilst the likes of Andrew Strauss have taken to their sofas, inserted their pipes and caught up with the first series of Danish sensation Forbrydelsen (that's The Killing to you and us) on BBC 4. 

England's next assignment as they look to cement their position as the number one ranked side is in the unlikely surroundings of the United Arab Emirates where a three Test series with a rapidly improving Pakistan starts on January 17th in Dubai. 

Whilst there is a whole host of mince pies, mulled wine and other festive delights to negotiate before then, the encounter with Team Misbah will come closer into view with the announcement of the touring party this Friday. 

The selectors don't have any injuries of any significance to worry about but they will need to factor into their deliberations what make-up will be required for the slow turners that will likely be prepared for the 'home' side and their wily spinner Saeed Ajmal. 

England will have to make serious consideration to foregoing their usual six batsmen policy to play two spinners in each of the three Tests. Either that or they retain a four man attack of either three seamers and one spinner or two seamers and two spinners. The squad they name will need to cover each of these eventualities.

With the six frontline batsmen picking themselves, the discussions will centre on identifying the spare batsman, back-up keeper to Matt Prior, two spinners to accompany Graeme Swann and whether to pick four or five seamers.

The spare batsman will probably be Ravi Bopara, although we'd opt for James Taylor. The keeper will be one of Steven Davies (back-up Test keeper in the last touring party, but who hasn't been seen since), Craig Kieswetter or Jonathan Bairstow (who could double up as the spare batsman) with Davies getting our vote as he is the best keeper of the three. 

The choice of seamers will likely be in order of preference James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Chris Tremlett, Tim Bresnan and if a fifth quick is required Steve Finn with Graham Onions next to step in. 

The most interesting decision will be in the spin department. Monty Panesar is by some distance the second best spinner in the country and also has experience on his side, but the selectors seem to like Scott Borthwick and it cannot be a coincidence that Samit Patel announced only a few days ago that he was withdrawing from the IPL auction to concentrate on securing a Test spot.

Borthwick is a big spinner of the ball, can bat and has the added bonus of being a leg-spinner. If England play a second spinner instead of a sixth batsman than Patel could slot in at seven behind Prior. But both are probably not quite Test class yet, so Panesar plus Patel seems the best option to us. 

Of course this could have been the tour to blood Adil Rashid, but he has fallen out of favour with the selectors and had an erractic season with Yorkshire last summer, so once again he will have to sit on the sidelines.

Make no doubt, Pakistan will be a tough proposition for England - as they were in 2005 just a few weeks after that famous Ashes triumph - and the selectors will need to ensure that Strauss and Andy Flower have the requisite resources and flexibility in the squad to combat the steely Misbah and his rapidly improving Pakistan side. 

Our 17 man squad: Strauss, Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Eoin Morgan, Taylor, Prior, Davies, Swann, Panesar, Patel, Bresnan, Broad, Anderson, Tremlett and Finn.

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