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Cape Town - Pakistan paceman, Umar Gul, believes the national team, spearheaded by the bowling of Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Amir will do well in England.
The tour will be Pakistan's first bilateral tour to England since 2010, and comes off of the back of two series wins against England in the UAE.
Gul told PakPassion.net: “We have an excellent bowling attack for this tour and the pick among the fast bowlers will surely be Mohammad Amir,
“He will play a key role against England. I expect him to perform very well as he has played in those conditions before.
“Apart from Amir, Sohail Khan has put in some excellent performances before and knows how to bowl in seaming conditions.
“But don’t forget that in leg-spinner Yasir Shah, Pakistan has an excellent bowler who can take wickets on any kind of surface.”
Coached by South African Mickey Arthur, the Pakistan selectors have excluded a number of high-profile players who have a history of disciplinary problems, which some have criticised, but Gul is happy with the squad, saying: “The team selected for the Test series seems to be a good one.
“To be honest, no one is really ever satisfied with what selectors choose but in this case, I am happy with the players chosen.
“This is pretty much similar to the Test team which has proven to be quite successful for a while for Pakistan.”
England recently hosted Sri Lanka, who looked out of their depth in English conditions, but Gul feels Pakistan will do much better, saying: “I am convinced that Pakistan’s batsmen will perform better than Sri Lanka as they have some quality batsmen in their midst.
“As for Sri Lanka, they are a very weak team in Test matches as it stands today.
“They have lost Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene in recent times and have not found good replacements yet and they cannot rely on Angelo Mathews all the time to help them out.
The quick believes that Pakistan's greatest challenge will be adapting to the conditions in England, saying: “Pakistan has been playing good Test cricket for the past few years in the UAE and in Asian conditions but the tour of England will be a big test for them.
“I am hoping that they can adapt to English conditions as soon as possible and if they do that, then nothing can stop a Pakistan success on this tour.”
Pakistan will complete warm-up matches against Sussex and Somerset ahead of the first Test at Lord's on July 14.
The tour will be Pakistan's first bilateral tour to England since 2010, and comes off of the back of two series wins against England in the UAE.
Gul told PakPassion.net: “We have an excellent bowling attack for this tour and the pick among the fast bowlers will surely be Mohammad Amir,
“He will play a key role against England. I expect him to perform very well as he has played in those conditions before.
“Apart from Amir, Sohail Khan has put in some excellent performances before and knows how to bowl in seaming conditions.
“But don’t forget that in leg-spinner Yasir Shah, Pakistan has an excellent bowler who can take wickets on any kind of surface.”
Coached by South African Mickey Arthur, the Pakistan selectors have excluded a number of high-profile players who have a history of disciplinary problems, which some have criticised, but Gul is happy with the squad, saying: “The team selected for the Test series seems to be a good one.
“To be honest, no one is really ever satisfied with what selectors choose but in this case, I am happy with the players chosen.
“This is pretty much similar to the Test team which has proven to be quite successful for a while for Pakistan.”
England recently hosted Sri Lanka, who looked out of their depth in English conditions, but Gul feels Pakistan will do much better, saying: “I am convinced that Pakistan’s batsmen will perform better than Sri Lanka as they have some quality batsmen in their midst.
“As for Sri Lanka, they are a very weak team in Test matches as it stands today.
“They have lost Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene in recent times and have not found good replacements yet and they cannot rely on Angelo Mathews all the time to help them out.
The quick believes that Pakistan's greatest challenge will be adapting to the conditions in England, saying: “Pakistan has been playing good Test cricket for the past few years in the UAE and in Asian conditions but the tour of England will be a big test for them.
“I am hoping that they can adapt to English conditions as soon as possible and if they do that, then nothing can stop a Pakistan success on this tour.”
Pakistan will complete warm-up matches against Sussex and Somerset ahead of the first Test at Lord's on July 14.
