James Anderson has backed Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum's aggressive approach ahead of England's first Test against Pakistan, but acknowledges they are in the dark over what to expect on the pitch.
The tourists kick off a three-match series in Rawalpindi on December 1, marking their first return to the country for red-ball cricket since 2005.
England had not toured Pakistan in the wake of the Sri Lanka bus attack in 2009 until September this year, when they returned to the nation for a seven-game T20 series ahead of the World Cup.
But having won six out of seven Tests on home turf under an all-guns-blazing approach from captain Stokes and coach McCullum, Anderson is ready to maintain the momentum on their trip overseas.
"We've got a captain and coach that don't want draws," the 40-year-old told BBC Sport. "We're not playing for draws.
"We don't know how it's going to play. Traditionally it is flat. We'll come out and try to win the game - we might have to be creative in how we do that."
Though a member of the party for England's last Test tour of Pakistan in 2005, Anderson did not feature, but he did play in a string of ODI matches.
That means the veteran red-ball specialist is in the dark on what to expect from his wicket, although he says he is still delighted to finally get the chance to play the longer format there.
"It's great to be back," he said. "Seventeen years is a long time. It would be wrong if I said, 'The pitch is going to play like this', or, 'This is what to expect'.
"There will be times when we have to soak up pressure. We get that.
"But there will be times when we have to put pressure back on the opposition and the skill we're trying to develop is when to do that.
"With the ball we're trying to take wickets. The captain and coach have made that quite clear - every time you run in to bowl it's about taking wickets - not about controlling the run-rate. It's about how we're going to get 20 wickets."
Inglis hails 'hard to stop' Stoinis after ruthless knock
Josh Inglis lauded "hard to stop" Marcus Stoinis as Australia signed off their T20I series against Pakistan in style, claiming a whitewash.
The hosts raced to a seven-wicket victory with almost nine overs remaining in Monday's third match.
After Australia's bowlers had limited Pakistan to just 117 runs, Stoinis ensured they signed off their final white-ball assignment in style, with his unbeaten 61 doing the damage.
Only twice has he bettered that knock in T20Is – versus New Zealand in 2021 (78) and against Oman at the World Cup earlier this year (67*).
"It's been a great week. We've had a lot of fun as a group," Inglis said. "It's been really nice.
"When Stoinis is going like that, he is really hard to stop. One of those sixes was probably the biggest I've ever seen!"
Stoinis, who was named player of the match, added: "Nice to score some runs on a beautiful wicket but credit to the bowlers who kept the total down.
"Yeah, I actually told [Haris] Rauf that this is the first time any of us got the better of him! No, he's a brilliant bowler, bowled well this series."
During their white-ball tour, Pakistan won the ODI series, their first time doing so in Australia in 22 years, but got whitewashed in the T20Is.
Despite the heavy loss, captain Agha Salman chose to focus on the positive effect the experience will have on their young players.
"I think in the middle overs, we didn't capitalise on the start," he said. "But lots of positives.
"The way Usman [Khan] batted, the way Jahandad [Khan] bowled. These youngsters will come good.
"It's obviously a big achievement winning the ODI series, but we could have done much better in the T20Is."
Australia race to seven-wicket win to whitewash Pakistan
Australia signed off on their T20I series against Pakistan in style after racing to a seven-wicket win with almost nine overs in hand in Monday's third match.
The hosts had already sealed a series success thanks to Spencer Johnson's five-for in Saturday's second match, and any hopes Pakistan had of taking a consolation win were dashed by a dismal performance with the bat in Hobart.
Pakistan were bundled out for just 117 as Aaron Hardie finished with figures of 3-21 and Johnson (2-24) and Adam Zampa (2-11) also dismissed two apiece for Australia.
Babar Azam's knock had put Pakistan in a decent position at 61-1 through six overs, but when Haseebullah Khan handed Matthew Short a simple catch off Zampa's spin ball, the wickets began to tumble with ease.
Pakistan's next five wickets fell for just 31 further runs, with seven of their batters finishing in single figures and four managing one run or fewer, with Babar (41) the only batter to score above 30.
Australia lost Short and Jake Fraser-McGurk early but Marcus Stoinis took any jeopardy out of the chase by scoring an unbeaten 61 runs off 27 balls, with his stand including five fours and five maximums.
Stoinis was unwilling to hang around, smashing Haris Rauf for 22 runs in an over to take Australia to the brink.
He then hit Shaheen Shah Afridi for 19 in the penultimate over as the hosts got the job done with 52 balls remaining.
Data Debrief: Quick and easy for Stoinis
Australia could have taken their time after being set such a paltry target, but Stoinis was determined to put on a show for those present at the Bellerive Oval.
Only twice has he bettered his knock of 61 in T20Is – versus New Zealand in 2021 (78) and against Oman at the World Cup earlier this year (67*). His strike rate of 225.92, while ruthless, falls some way short of his T20I best of 327.77 versus Sri Lanka in 2022 (59 off 18).
Pakistan's Babar, meanwhile, is now second on the all-time list of T20I run scorers with 4,192 to his name, having overtaken Virat Kohli. Only Rohit Sharma (4,231) is ahead of him.
Johnson five-for leads Australia to series win over Pakistan
Spencer Johnson's first five-for in T20Is led Australia to a hard-fought victory over Pakistan in Sydney, clinching a series success with a match to spare.
Johnson took the wickets of Mohammad Rizwan (16), Sahibzada Farhan (5), Usman Khan (52), Salman Agha (0) and Abbas Afridi (4) as Australia followed up their 29-run win in Thursday's rain-affected opener.
The momentum swung back and forth as both teams' batters struggled on a difficult surface, with Haris Rauf finishing with figures of 4-22 for Pakistan.
No Australia batter managed more than the 32 runs of opener Matthew Short, and they found themselves bundled out for 149, losing their last five wickets for just 53 runs.
However, Pakistan were dropped to 44-4 by the middle of their ninth over, with Johnson clearing up the tourists' captain Rizwan and vice-captain Salman with successive deliveries.
Usman's fine knock of 52 off 38 balls – including four fours and one maximum – dragged Pakistan back into contention, but he was beaten by the pace of another Johnson delivery with four overs remaining.
Pakistan ultimately needed 16 runs off the final over to level up the series, but their hopes were ended when Rauf was run out following a calamitous mix-up with Irfan Khan (37 not out), which saw both batters almost finish at the bowler's end.
Data Debrief: Australia on a roll
Australia entered this series having won just one of their last four bilateral T20I series against Pakistan, triumphing 2-0 in 2019 but losing the other three.
Regardless of the outcome of Monday's third match in Tasmania, the hosts have backed up that triumph, extending their unbeaten run across all men's T20I series to five (four wins, one draw).
They last enjoyed a streak of this length between November 2018 and February 2020 (also four wins, one draw).
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
