Alex Hales and Zafar Ansari in, Adam Lyth out

Nottinghamshire batsman Alex Hales and Surrey all-rounder Zafar Ansari could make their England Test debuts in the UAE after being selected in the squad for the series against Pakistan.

Hales's county colleague James Taylor is also named, after impressing during the one-day series with Australia.

There is no place for Yorkshire's Gary Ballance and Adam Lyth, with the latter dropped after a poor Ashes series.

The three-Test series begins in Abu Dhabi on 13 October.

Zafar is an Academic first !

Piano , second~

www.espncricinfo.com/pakistan-v-england-...nt/story/920833.html

               

The last 24 hours have been an emotional roller coaster for Ansari. The poor lad gets a phone call informing him of his inclusion in the squad to face Pakistan in the morning and then in the afternoon he dislocates his thumb playing for Surrey putting his participation in the tour in serious doubt. This is a major setback. I am hopeful that his thumb will heal up in time for him to take part in the tour as he is a very interesting cricketer, although the most recent reports don't look encouraging.

I can’t believe this happened to Ansari, poor guy. I really doubt that he’ll recover from that thumb on time, those fingers injuries seem like nothing but it always take time for them to heal. I was excited about his inclusion even though many people were not sure about him.

Ali , Rashid and Ansari  to face off against Pakistan ?

OMG : this has all the ingredients of a Jihad ( personal sacrifice)  ::LOL::

ECB should have a huge bonus structure in place !

Zafar Ansari out , Patel in 

www.espncricinfo.com/pakistan-v-england-...nt/story/922809.html

That's a tough blow for Ansari. I was looking forward to seeing more of him. It really goes to show the lack of quality spinners in England when Samit Patel is considered the fourth best spinner in England. I would have rather they taken young Mason Crane for the experience as opposed to Patel who really has no future with England.