Injured captain Ben Stokes urges England to repeat Pakistan clean sweep as Joe Root closes in on milestone

Ben Stokes confirmed he would miss Monday’s first Test against Pakistan in Multan, but urged his team-mates to repeat their famous clean sweep here two years ago.

England’s captain spoke of his frustration as he faces a fourth successive Test on the sidelines because of the hamstring injury picked up during the Hundred in August. And he can’t yet say if he’ll be fit for the second Test, also in Multan, starting on October 15.

But he remains an almighty dressing-room presence, and the wisdom derived from England’s tour in December 2022 – when they became the first visiting side to whitewash Pakistan 3–0 – will be at stand-in captain Ollie Pope’s disposal should he need it.

‘Three-nil is definitely what we will be going for,’ said Stokes. ‘We always go out to win the game. The conditions we were exposed to last time might be completely different here, but we have to be adaptable and work out the best way of getting a win.’

England are intrigued by a green-tinged surface at a venue where two years ago Pakistan came within 27 of chasing down an imposing fourth-innings target of 355.

Stokes has now been on the sidelines for four successive Tests due to a hamstring injury

England hope to repeat their 2022 heroics when they enjoyed a 3-0 clean sweep over Pakistan

And they know they will have to succeed this time without any of the three frontline seamers who shared 12 wickets in that win: Mark Wood is injured, Jimmy Anderson has retired, and Ollie Robinson has fallen out of favour.

The onus will fall instead on Chris Woakes, the only seamer in the squad with any Test experience in Asia, along with debutant Brydon Carse and Gus Atkinson, one of the stars of the English summer. Olly Stone, meanwhile, is set to return home for his wedding, before heading back to Pakistan in time for the second Test.

There is a recall for spinner Jack Leach, who has not appeared for England since the first Test against India at Hyderabad in January but played an important part in the win here two years ago. He will team up with his Somerset colleague Shoaib Bashir, with Joe Root ready to bowl off-breaks if required.

Simply standing on the outfield yesterday was enough to get a sense of the scale ahead for England in conditions that could not be more different from the chill that descended on the home summer.

‘It’s really exciting for the lads to come out here and be exposed to these conditions for the first time,’ said Stokes, who revealed he had signed his new ECB central contract, understood to be for two years. ‘It will show them how hard Test cricket can be.

‘It is tough anyway, but coming to Pakistan when the temperature is high 30s and low 40s, it takes character. And we have a lot of characters in our dressing-room willing to stand up to the challenge of playing Test cricket out here.’

While England aim to complete a third series win in a row after the home victories over West Indies and Sri Lanka, Root will be playing a game within a game, needing just 71 to overtake Alastair Cook’s 12,472 and become England’s leading Test run-scorer.

Chris Woakes is the only seamer in England’s squad with any previous Test experience in Asia

Jack Leach was drafted back into the England team having not played a Test since January

Joe Root is just 71 runs away from eclipsing Alastair Cook as England’s leading Test run-scorer

‘I’d like to get more than that in this game, so see it as a little bit irrelevant,’ he said. ‘I feel like I’m going to be playing for a good while past it, so it’s not really a focus. More than anything it’s just getting us off to a good start.’

Whether England succeed may depend on what mood the Pakistanis are in as they seek to end a dreadful home run of six defeats and no victories in their last 10 Tests.

Even so, they look strong on paper, with captain Shan Masood and coach Jason Gillespie, the former Australian quick, keen to extol positive cricket. And they have a score to settle. If Babar Azam can impose himself with the bat, and Shaheen Shah Afridi with the ball, England really will be made to sweat.