MARGARET THATCHER was in the bright early years of her premiership when England last won a home Test series against Pakistan, captained by Bob Willis and still driven by Ian Botham. A repeat is overdue and it should be achieved over the next five days on the same Headingley ground where the 1982 series was wrapped up, albeit only at the end of one of those tight, tense games that so often seem to be a Leeds speciality.

Pakistan are determined to rebound from last week’s innings defeat in Manchester and with batsmen of the quality of Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan they are capable of doing so. They plan to play three other specialist batsmen when the third npower Test starts this morning before an expected capacity crowd.

If Shoaib Akhtar, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Mohammad Asif were available, that would make a formidable balance, but in their absence for at least one more match, England have a great chance to build on an exceptional all-round performance at Old Trafford.

Michael Vaughan, still on crutches, appeared like Banquo at practice yesterday, but it was Andrew Strauss, a captain with real authority now, who emphasised the need for England to “keep the foot on the accelerator”. Their objective is to nail down the series before the possible reappearance of Shoaib and Asif at the Brit Oval on Thursday week.

Pakistan’s plan is to bat with patience on a pitch that looks unlikely to give the bowlers much until the later stages. Even in the days before the square was reconstructed and sharp lift was forever threatening a batsman’s fingers against tall bowlers, this was a fast- scoring ground when the sun shone. When clouds billow up over the Kirkstall trees on the western side, however, it remains more rewarding for accurate seam bowlers than it does for spinners.

It is a challenge to Monty Panesar that the last England spinner to take five wickets in an innings at Headingley was John Emburey as long ago as 1985. It is primarily to Stephen Harmison, therefore, that Strauss will look for a reprise. The whiteness of a well- prepared pitch and a few cracks beneath a well-grassed top suggest some uneven bounce eventually and its hardness should encourage Harmison throughout.

The replacement of Geraint Jones by Chris Read leaves Harmison’s opening partner, Matthew Hoggard, as the England player with comfortably the most consecutive appearances, 35 without a break. Playing before his home crowd, the esteemed Pudsey ploughman will not want to repeat his experience at Headingley in 2002, when India scored 628 for eight despite apparently ideal conditions for swing bowling.

The choice between Sajid Mahmood’s ability to reverse-swing an old ball and Jon Lewis’s to move a new one will depend again on a delicate calculation between the dryness of the pitch and a late assessment of the weekend weather.

England’s selection is straightforward by comparison with Pakistan’s. Bob Woolmer, the touring team’s coach, reported that Asif had bowled eight overs without pain yesterday, confirmed that Shoaib would be playing in the third division of the Birmingham League tomorrow, for Berkswell against St Georges, and that the plan is for both to return against West Indies A at Shenley next weekend. For the moment, Pakistan’s need is to find sufficient bowlers to undermine an increasingly confident England top six without weakening batting that looked invincible at Lord’s but seriously vulnerable against Harmison and Panesar at Old Trafford.

Spectators will be disappointed if, as expected, the mercurial Shahid Afridi does not retain his place. He has made two of his five Test centuries as an opener, so his promotion would make more sense than that of Kamran Akmal, an Old Trafford experiment that will not be repeated. Salman Butt, who scored 300 runs at 60 in the three Tests of England’s winter series in Pakistan, is the obvious like-for-like replacement for the injured Imran Farhat and it will be surprising if he is not accompanied by another specialist opener, also left-handed, Taufiq Umar.

Like Afridi, Abdul Razzaq is expected to pay for Pakistan’s innings defeat in Manchester. Two fresher bowlers are vying for his place: the tall, young, left-arm over fast bowler, Samiullah Khan Niazi, who took 75 wickets at 18 in domestic cricket last season, and Shahid Nazir, who was originally chosen ahead of him for the tour.

Neither is likely to enjoy the experience much if Marcus Trescothick returns to form. He has not reached fifty in his past seven Test innings, but he and Kevin Pietersen are unlikely to miss the boat again.

ENGLAND (from): A J Strauss (Middlesex, capt), M E Trescothick (Somerset), A N Cook (Essex), K P Pietersen (Hampshire), P D Collingwood (Durham), I R Bell (Warwickshire), C M W Read (Nottingham- shire), M J Hoggard (Yorkshire), J Lewis (Gloucestershire), S J Harmison (Durham), M S Panesar (Northamptonshire), S I Mahmood (Lancashire).

PAKISTAN (from): Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), Salman Butt, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Abdul Razzaq, Kamran Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul, Danish Kaneria, Faisal Iqbal, Rao Iftikhar Anjum, Samiullah Khan Niazi, Shahid Nazir, Mohammad Sami, Taufiq Umar.

Umpires: D B Hair (Aus) and B Doctrove (WI).

Third umpire: N J Llong.

Match referee: R S Madugalle (SL).

Television: Live on Sky Sports 1 from 10am today. Highlights: Five 7.15-8pm

Radio: Live on Five Live Sports Extra and Radio 4 (LW 198kHz)

Weather: Today: Sunny intervals, maximum temperature 22C (71F). Tomorrow: Sunny intervals, 23C (73F). Sunday: Showers 24C (75F). Monday: Sunny intervals 21C (69F). Tuesday: Sunny intervals 22C (71F).

SCORER’S NOTES

4 The number of times England have beaten Pakistan at Headingley. Pakistan have won just once, in 1987. Three Tests have been drawn.

74% The percentage of Tests (48 out of 65) at Leeds with a decisive result. Since 1990, that figure is 84% (11 out of 13 matches).

8: Members of the England squad who have never played a Test at Leeds before. No one except Inzamam-ul-Haq has played a Test there for Pakistan.

30.81 The average first-wicket partnership in all Tests at Headingley.