Getting a team on the field for the second Test at Old Trafford starting here Thursday is threatening to become a major achievement for England and Pakistan as both sides try to cope with mounting injury lists.
Last week England suffered a major setback when Andrew Flintoff, who missed the drawn series opener at Lord's, was ruled out for the rest of the reason with an ankle injury.
England had hoped the star all-rounder would return to captain them for the second match of the series at his Lancashire home ground. Instead he faces a fresh operation. And their pace bowling resources were further depleted Tuesday when Durham quick Liam Plunkett was ruled out of this match, and the third Test at Headingley, with a side strain.
Already without Ashes-winning captain Michael Vaughan (knee), fast bowler Simon Jones (knee) and spinner Ashley Giles (hip), England at least have the consolation of being at home where replacements from the county game are plentiful in number, if not quality.
Pakistan though have been equally hard-hit. They remain without the pace trio who were all absent at Lord's: Shoaib Akhtar (ankle), Mohammad Asif (elbow) and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, who has been ruled out of the whole series with a groin problem.
Batsmen Younis Khan (knee) and Shoaib Malik (elbow) are, however, available for selection once again.
But there was further bad news for Pakistan on Tuesday when leg-spinning all-rounder Shahid Afridi was hit on his right arm when batting in the nets and seamer Rao Iftikhar Anjum, summoned as a replacement, had to return home for a family bereavement.
ENGLAND RELEASE DALRYMPLE: England released uncapped off-spinner Jamie Dalrymple from their squad Wednesday for the second Test against Pakistan starting at Old Trafford here Thursday. The Middlesex all-rounder's omission left Monty Panesar as the lone specialist slow bowler in what was now a 12-man squad.
That appeared to leave pace bowlers Jon Lewis and Sajid Mahmood in a head-to-head battle for the final place in England's XI. The four-match series is currently level at 0-0 after the first Test at Lord's was drawn.