England skipper Alastair Cook excited to see how rookie Zafar Ansari adapts to Test arena
England skipper Alastair Cook has backed international rookie Zafar Ansari to seize his opportunity to impress after confirming that the Surrey all-rounder will make his Test debut against Bangladesh on Friday.
Cook confirmed yesterday that left-armer Ansari is set to replace his county captain Gareth Batty for the second Test in Dhaka, with the other change seeing Middlesex seamer Steven Finn replacing Stuart Broad.
Cambridge University graduate Ansari was named in England’s team for a one-day match against Ireland in May 2015 but did not bat or bowl as only 18 overs of play were possible due to rain.
The 24-year-old’s Test bow may have arrived earlier had he not sustained a broken thumb a matter of hours after being included in England’s Test squad for their series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates last year.
“Zafar is going to make his debut, coming in for Gareth and Finny’s coming in for Broady,” said Cook, who is set to make a record-equalling 54th appearance as England skipper during the second Test.
“Zafar has the ability to take the ball away from the right-handers. One thing I’ve seen in the nets is he can bowl at good pace with good control. It will be really interesting to see how he goes. He can also bat as well, which is good.”
Nottinghamshire quick Broad will have to wait until next month’s red-ball tussle with world No1-ranked side India for his 100th Test appearance after being omitted from the side, despite a momentum-shifting two-wicket spell on day four in Chittagong.
“I’m sure he’d have liked to have got that milestone but this is case of looking a bit further to the future and he understands the amount of cricket he could play over the next six weeks,” added Cook.
“We want people up and running. We don’t want to go to India with too many people not playing cricket.”
Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim, meanwhile, admitted that his side are still smarting from their agonising 22-run defeat in Chittagong. He said: “We are still hurting from the loss so it is best to move on from that game.
“We know that had we given one per cent more, the Test would have been in our favour.”