England choose to bat against Pakistan

England captain Joe Root won the toss and elected to bat in the first cricket Test against Pakistan at Lord's on Thursday.

England gave a debut to 20-year-old Somerset off-spinner Dominic Bess and included fast bowler Mark Wood in their XI, with pace bowling all-rounder Chris Woakes missing out after being selected in a 12-man squad.

Pakistan made one change to the side that beat Test debutants Ireland by five wickets in Dublin last week, with Hasan Ali replacing left-arm paceman Rahat Ali for the first of this two-Test series.

This match saw England opener Alastair Cook equal Australia great Allan Border's all-time record of playing in 153 consecutive Tests.

England were looking to bounce back after a difficult southern hemisphere tour where they failed to win in seven combined Tests in Australia and New Zealand.

Teams

England: Alastair Cook, Mark Stoneman, Joe Root (capt), Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow (wkt), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Dominic Bess, Stuart Broad, Mark Wood, James Anderson

Pakistan: Azhar Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Haris Sohail, Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, Sarfraz Ahmed (capt/wkt), Faheem Ashraf, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Abbas

Umpires: Rod Tucker (AUS), Paul Reiffel (AUS)

TV umpire: Bruce Oxenford (AUS)

Match referee: Jeff Crowe (NZL)