Pakistan squad for npower Test series, 2010

Salman Butt (captain)
Butt, a 25-year-old from Lahore, is tasked with possibly the most foreboding task in world cricket - captaining Pakistan. His many supporters will point towards his unflappable and eloquent personality, which he will certainly need to avoid the fates suffered by Javed Miandad and Wasim Akram when they took on the role at similar times of their careers. A relatively restrained and technically correct left-hander in a team of strokemakers, Butt tends to reserve his best innings for Australia and England - all seven of his top scores in Tests have been against them. As with all Test captains, his principal challenge will be to maintain his healthy form.

Imran Farhat
One of the young batsmen given the opportunity to make the opening spot their own, Farhat is often guilty of wasting good starts in Test cricket. However, he appears to have been allowed a relatively long time at forging a left-handed alliance with Butt. Farhat scored 91 at the ill-fated 2006 Test at the Brit Insurance Oval, and following a stint with the unauthorised Indian Cricket League, added his third Test century over the winter in Napier.

Yasir Hameed
Hameed may always be remembered for being only the second man to hit two centuries on Test debut - Lawrence Rowe of West Indies was the first - against Bangladesh at Karachi seven years ago. Despite staggering returns in his early career, Hameed has been unable to nail down a place in the Pakistan Test side, but selection as back-up for the England tour appears to have handed the 32-year-old a reprieve. Hameed, also a left-hander, has not played for Pakistan since 2007.

Azhar Ali
Azhar certainly looked the part on international debut against Australia, but quite how he adapts to the rigours of batting at number three in Test cricket remains to be seen. The role previously occupied by Younus Khan has now fallen to this 25-year-old right-hander, who registered his maiden Test fifty at Headingley Carnegie, only to get out to the next ball and trigger Pakistan’s last-day wobble. But with a recall for Younus looking unlikely for now, Azhar may have a few cracks at the task.

Umar Amin
A 20-year-old left-hander thrust into his maiden tour by the absence of Mohammad Yousuf and Younus Khan, Amin is tipped as one for the future. He certainly applied himself well in the neutral Tests against Australia, without having the scores to show for his efforts. Amin looks set to occupy the number four spot in the Pakistan order.

Umar Akmal
Umar, the youngest of three cricket-playing Akmal brothers from Lahore, arrived on the international scene like a comet. Announcing his entrance to Tests with 129 at Dunedin, he has fitted in seamlessly in a batting order perennially weakened by political intrigue. Concerns have started to creep in, however, about Umar’s tendency to try to flash every ball to the boundary.

Shoaib Malik
Malik appears to have been right at the centre of the controversies surrounding the Pakistan team over the last year. Deposed as captain in February 2009, Malik was restored to the squad later that year, and even led Pakistan in a temporary capacity against England in two Twenty20 internationals in Abu Dhabi. For all his divisiveness, Malik is a richly talented all-rounder, who has been shunted up and down the order without ever finding his natural home. Malik’s experience could be vital with the greener Azhar and Amin directly above him in the order.

Kamran Akmal (wicketkeeper)
A batsman first, and a wicketkeeper second, Kamran’s glovework appears to have come on considerably if the early stages of Pakistan’s tour are anything to go by. There is little doubting his ability to change a match with the bat; five centuries in one-day internationals, most of them opening up, are testament to that. A strong showing in England can at least allow Kamran to banish from immediate memory his howlers in the Sydney Test last winter, when he dropped four catches in a match Pakistan somehow contrived to lose.

Zulqarnain Haider (wicketkeeper)
Zulqarnain - unrelated to the wicketkeeper bearing the same first name who represented Pakistan in the 1980s - is one of several glovemen whose batting is not quite strong enough to supplant Kamran Akmal. Unusually tall for a keeper, he has been limited to a solitary appearance for Pakistan ahead of this series - in the 2007 World Twenty20. However, he is considered tidy with the gloves and a solid alternative should Kamran be sidelined.

Umar Gul
Probably the world’s best Twenty20 seamer, Gul reiterated against Australia he can transfer his skills to the longest form of the game. The 26-year-old consistently backs up opening bowlers Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif with his ability to take wickets at first change. He is capable of swinging the new ball, but it is when the ball starts reversing he comes into his own as he can swing the it back into right-handers at good pace.

Mohammad Asif
In 19 Tests ahead of this series, Asif had taken 94 wickets at an average of 23.18. The 27-year-old - regarded by former England batsman Marcus Trescothick as the most skilful seamer in the world - mixes nagging accuracy with an ability to nip the ball both ways off the seam, although his stock delivery moves into the right hander. He has endured an up-and-down career thus far with injury problems and off-the-field issues limiting his playing time, but it has not affected his bowling. Though far from express pace - he bowls around the 80mph mark - he will be the man England fear most.

Mohammad Aamer
The new kid on the block, Aamer has shown during his 10 Test matches to date he is one of world cricket’s most exciting prospects. The left-arm seamer was sensational against Australia in being the series' joint leading wicket-taker with 11 scalps at an average of 22.27. Despite being just 18 years of age, Aamer has an excellent cricket brain and his ability to swing the ball both ways will undoubtedly test the England batsmen.

Wahab Riaz
Riaz had not played Test cricket ahead of this series, although he had featured in five one-day internationals. He started promisingly in the one-day arena with impressive performances against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. However, he has rarely been seen since he bowled nine expensive overs against India, before being taken out of the attack for bowling two beamers. He will be hoping his brisk pace will earn him a chance to revitalise his international career.

Tanvir Ahmed
The leading wicket-taker in the 2009-10 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, Pakistan’s first-class competition, Tanvir is entering international cricket relatively late at 31. The fast bowler has an uncanny knack of breaking partnerships and is a decent lower-order batsman.

Danish Kaneria
Despite being in and out of the team in recent years, Danish Kaneria is, on his day, one of the most dangerous spinners in the game. A leggie capable of extracting turn on most surfaces, he possesses probably the best googly in world cricket. When the sun comes out, England can be an excellent place to bat in August and Pakistan will be looking to Kaneria to take wickets when the ball is not doing much for their impressive seam attack.

Saeed Ajmal
An excellent off-spinner, who can bowl ‘the other one’, Saeed Ajmal can be a handful in all conditions. Despite playing only five Tests ahead of this series, the 32-year-old is capable of troubling even the world’s best batsmen. He may not add to his Test tally during the series with Kaneria seen as the number-one choice but, if he is given a chance, England will need to be wary.

On August 1, Pakistan made the below two additions to the squad for the second npower Test at Edgbaston. Kaneria was released to his county Essex, though he remains available to Pakistan should they wish to recall him.

Mohammad Yousuf
Yousuf was a belated addition to the Pakistan squad following their 354-run mauling at Trent Bridge, returning from an indefinite ban by the Pakistan Cricket Board and his own international retirement. The rationale for the recall of this master batsman is obvious, not least an average of over 65 in Test matches in England, including three big hundreds in their last visit in 2006. Yousuf’s well-publicised problems with Malik and other members of the squad could prove an issue. He was removed of the captaincy after the astonishingly bad tour of Australia, in part due to some bizarre tactical decisions in the field. Pakistan will be hoping he can sweep that aside and return to heavy run-scoring at number four.

Raza Hasan
Pakistan responded to Kaneria’s ineffective performance at Trent Bridge by releasing the leg-spinner to his county and calling up this very inexperienced left-arm spinner. Just 18 years old, with just two first-class matches to his name, Raza has nonetheless impressed with his control, not least in Pakistan’s ICC Under-19 World Cup campaign in New Zealand, in which they finished second. He is unlikely to leapfrog off-spinner Ajmal immediately, however.