Pakistan v England first Test: Ali opens and Rashid makes debut

Sam Barnard, Assistant Sports Editor | October 12, 2015

Moeen Ali has won the race to open for England’s first of three Tests with Pakistan, to add to a long list of partners for captain Alastair Cook, and the spinning all-rounder is 6/1 with Coral to top score for the visitors in their first innings.

However, the Worcestershire player, who edged out Alex Hales in the team, has been far from impressive in the warm-up games so far with Pakistan A, managing knocks of just 22 and 20.

Fellow spinning all-rounder Adil Rashid, who has benefited from Ali’s promotion up the order, on the other hand, has looked good with both bat and ball, and is seemingly inspired ahead of his long-awaited England Test debut against the nation of his heritage.

The Yorkshireman, who also helped his county to their second successive championship this season, is 7/2 to be best bowler for his side in the first innings following his three wickets in the last warm-up. While he is a tempting 25/1 in the batting market after hitting 51 in the match before.

Rashid’s Yorkshire clubmate Joe Root, though, is the man to back in that latter market, after his incredible recent rise to the top of the rankings and scoring exploits in the Ashes. He is now down to number three so will be keen to knock Steve Smith back of his perch again, so is priced at 11/4 to be best batsman.