Matthew Henry
BBC Sport at the Ageas Bowl

I've had a lot of nervous looks at the Southampton weather radars over the past few days.

There are thunderstorms around but the forecast seems to change by the hour.

The hover cover has been on and off this morning. Here's hoping we get lucky.

Azhar Mahmood
Former Pakistan all-rounder on Test Match Special

Fawad Alam has a phenomenal first-class average, averaging 57. He won't give his wicket away but for me it was a bizarre decision - you have to invest in Shadab.

England: Rory Burns, Dom Sibley, Zak Crawley, Joe Root (capt), Ollie Pope, Jos Butler (wk), Chris Woakes, Sam Curran, Dom Bess, Stuart Broad, James Anderson.

Pakistan: Shan Masood, Abid Ali, Azhar Ali (capt), Babar Azam, Asad Shafiq, Fawad Alam, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Yasir Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Abbas, Naseem Shah.

Umpires: Richard Kettleborough, Michael Gough; TV umpire: Richard Illingworth.

Pakistan captain Azhar Ali: "With the amount of grass on the wicket one spinner is enough and obviously we want to strengthen our batting as well.

"It's been tough to lose from that situation [in the first Test]. Everyone was hurt but obviously but we played a lot of good cricket in that game, we were on top for a lot of that game and we would like to take the positives and make sure when we get in good positions we win from there."

England captain Joe Root on TMS: "We probably would have batted first. It's muggy, we've got a very good swing bowling atttack and we're looking to exploit that.

"Getting first go is not necessarily a bad thing, especially on the back of our second-innings performance at Old Trafford."

On Sam Curran replacing Jofra Archer: "More than anything it was to lengthen our batting. With Ben missing out, we wanted to make sure we have that depth there. His record in England is fantastic and he deserves the opportunity."

Fawad Alam hasn't played a Test since November 2009!

He's down to come in at number six and averages 41.66 in his three Tests. He'll be hoping his top order give him a platform.

Image source, Getty Images

Pakistan captain Azhar Ali: "We decided to bat first, it was a difficult decision and the weather is a factor but we want to make full use of it and put runs on the board."

Joe Root confirms that England have made two changes. As expected Zak Crawley replaces Ben Stokes while Sam Curran comes in for Jofra Archer.

Pakistan make one change with Fawad Alam replacing Shadab Khan.

Azhar Ali wins the toss and chooses to bat first.

He calls it a "tough decision".

Right, we're ready for the toss!

Fast bowler Ollie Robinson is "good enough to thrive in Test cricket" if he gets his chance during the Pakistan series, says his Sussex head coach and former Australia seamer Jason Gillespie.

Robinson, 26, was added to England's squad for the second Test, having taken 155 first-class wickets over the past two seasons.

"We hope Ollie gets a crack in the next Test," Gillespie told BBC Radio Sussex.

"He's ready and deserves the chance. He's good enough to absolutely thrive in Test cricket."

"He's genuinely in the mix. He certainly wouldn't let anyone down. He's tall, runs in, hits the seam, has good control and bowls long, penetrating spells."

Image source, Getty Images

BBC Test Match Special

Test Match Special is just getting under way at the top of this page and on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra.

Tune in now to listen to Aggers and the team at the Ageas Bowl.

If you're overseas you can listen here, external.

The last time England played at the Ageas Bowl - in the first Test of the summer against West Indies - they played Jofra Archer and Mark Wood because they thought the extra pace would be advantageous.

If Matt is right, we could go into this game without either of them. Interesting how five weeks can change your thinking.

We'll find out in just over five minutes time at the toss.

Matthew Henry
BBC Sport at the Ageas Bowl

I'm going to have a stab at guessing England's bowling line-up.

We know James Anderson will be playing and you'd expect Stuart Broad and Chris Woakes will be too.

Both Sam Curran and Dom Bess had a prod of the pitch this morning as they made their way across the ground from the hotel. Jofra Archer, in comparison, walked straight past.

Am I reading too much into that? Maybe.

Joe Root said yesterday Mark Wood has a slight knock.

Paul E: Pleasant surprise... thought England v Pakistan started Friday but it's on today! Hoping for a bit of Woody in the line-up & a strong batting performance.

We know that England are going to have to make at least one change with Ben Stokes unavailable for the remainder of the series. The all-rounder has gone to New Zealand for family reasons.

Batsman Zak Crawley is set to come back into the side for Stokes, but what about the bowlers?

Well, many people expected James Anderson to miss out this week after recording match figures of 1-98 last week, but Joe Root said yesterday that the 38-year-old was set to play, adding that he was "very much looking forward to seeing him perform".

That means Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes, Jofra Archer, Sam Curran, Mark Wood, the uncapped Ollie Robinson, plus spinner Dom Bess, are all in contention to join Anderson in the bowling attack.

Yes, it really did happen. England did chase 277 after being 117-5 to take a 1-0 lead in this three-Test series.

Can they make it 2-0 and wrap up the series this week?

We're about to find out.

Has it sunk in yet?