As the England coach with a specialism in spin bowling, Jeetan Patel could have been forgiven for assessing his charges for the Pakistan series and invoking the words of Archie MacLaren, the captain who saw his squad for the 1902 Old Trafford Test and cried: “My God! Look what they’ve sent me.”
Jack Leach is the sole spinner with Test caps (29 to be precise), Rehan Ahmed is an 18-year-old leggie three first-class matches into his career, and there are two batting all-rounders in Will Jacks and Liam Livingstone. The pitches in Rawalpindi, Multan and Karachi are yet to be seen but in terms of slow bowling experience, England appear lighter than a bag of Maltesers.
