Whom to pick, whom to rest? England have a lot to ponder ahead of crucial Southampton Test

The first Test match of the current Pakistan tour to England was a brilliant spectacle, even without the often raucous Mancunian crowd there to soak up the enthralling final day's play. It had it all, from some excellent spin bowling thanks mainly to Yasir Shah, to express pace and accuracy from the three front-line Pakistan seamers.

It also had an excellent, match-winning partnership between Jos Buttler and Chris Woakes. The fact that Pakistan Cricket and England Cricket have what are clearly the two most inconsistent yet exciting teams in world cricket currently means we could well see more close and exciting games in the coming weeks.

However, having played four Tests in quick succession, and being outplayed for the majority of the Test by Pakistan, England have much to consider heading down to Southampton.

The recall of Ollie Robinson to the bio- secure England cricket bubble has pricked the ears of regular English County Cricket fans. Having taken 244 First-Class wickets at less than 22 a-piece, including match figures of 8/65 in his recent outing with Sussex, Robinson has been the most consistent performer on the County circuit for some time.

With the perceived lack of form of James Anderson and the fact that England's two inform bowlers in Chris Woakes and Stuart Broad have played 3 back-to-back Tests, there may very well be an opportunity for the 26-year-old pacer in the starting IX come Thursday.

However, with the recent announcement that Ben Stokes will not be taking part in the remainder of the series after deciding to leave for New Zealand to visit his sick father, the balance of the bowling attack is also an issue.

England v Pakistan: Day 4 - First Test #RaiseTheBat Series

How will England shape their bowling attack?

Do England stick with four seamers and a spinner, thus leaving their batting short, or do they go with three seamers and a spinner, or even just four seamers? Whatever the case may be, England will feel they need some experience if they are to rest Broad and Anderson and thus would surely recall either Sam Curran, who averages 22 with the ball in England, or possibly Mark Wood for his express pace.

Even then the selection process will not be easy as England may feel that they want to go in with just three pace-men and a spinner.

In this case Jack Leach would clearly be be the better option. Leach is by far a better bowler and currently takes his Test wickets at just 29 a-piece. If England decide to replace Stokes with a pure batsman, then they may not feel Dom Bess' extra capability as a decent lower-order batsman is needed and thus would then opt to chose their best spinner in Leach.

That finally brings us to who England could bring in if they chose to replace Stokes with a batsman. The most obvious choice would be Dan Lawrence, who comes off the back of an excellent winter for the England Lions in Australia.

Having spent much of his career batting in the middle order for Essex, he could easily slot in at 6 and allow Ollie Pope to move up a place in the batting line-up. This does still require England to recall Zac Crawley at three, and allows Root to move back down to his preferred position at four with Pope and Lawrence making up the rest of the top six.

This is of course with the caveat that England believe replacing Stokes with a batsmen requires them to go into the Test with four bowlers.

On the other hand, after Jos Buttler's poor form with the gloves at Old Trafford, England could feel it best to bring in Ben Foakes, the far superior glove-man, and move Buttler up the order as a specialist batsmen. This would require Root to stay at three and mean one of either Crawley or Lawrence is left out of the middle order.

England Nets Session

One thing that is clear is that their is much to ponder for England. Having played back-to-back Tests all summer, it is obvious that many of the front-line bowlers will need a rest. I would expect two out of Broad, Woakes and Anderson to be left out at The Ageas Bowl.

Yet, just how they are replaced is yet to be seen. England should also not be complacent in victory, as, whilst they earned it, they were often outplayed by a young Pakistan side and thus may need to look elsewhere to iron out the issues before play commences in Southampton.