As England prepare for their final warm-up game ahead of the first Test against Pakistan on October 13, assistant coach Paul Farbrace has ensured all members of the squad that places are still up for grabs.

Eleven of the 16-man party enjoyed their first run out of the tour earlier in the week with Nottinghamshire’s Alex Hales missing out on the opening slot to Moeen Ali.

However, Farbrace believes all members of the squad, including Hales, James Taylor and Samit Patel have time to push their case for selection.

“Everybody in the 16, I think, genuinely has an opportunity at this stage. I wouldn’t rule anything in or out, and I think we need to keep our options open as long as we possibly can,” he said on the possibility of Hales making his Test debut.

“Mo’s had first go in this practice game, and we were very pleased with the way he applied himself … and that first hour was very difficult.”

“We’ve got senior players who’ve been here and experienced it, and I think there was a feeling that – although they lost the last Test series here 3-0 – it was one they could quite easily have won.

“They didn’t, that’s history, it’s gone now. But I think we’ve got a great chance with this group to play some really good cricket, and we’re looking to be as positive as we possibly can be.”

No side has come away from the UAE victorious in eight series since Pakistan began using the country as an adopted home, and Farbrace is under no illusion how hard the test will be.

“We’re coming here knowing it’s going to be a very, very tough series,” he added. “I said at the end of the Australian series I expected this to be a tougher series for us to play in,” he said.

“We knew it was going to be tough, very different obviously from conditions we’ve just played in the Ashes.

“The application with the ball was outstanding. The one thing we’ve just had a quick chat about is that, to win a Test match, you’ve got to take 20 chances – and we’ve missed a couple of chances here.

“That’s something we’ll have to work very hard on, and something we prided ourselves on in the Ashes series. We’ve still got a good few days to go, so there’ll be plenty of catching [practice] done over the next few days.

“But generally, I think we had a really good two days. We saw how players adapted quite quickly to the situation and conditions.”

 

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