Pakistan bowling coach Waqar Younis on Wednesday stressed that the Test series against England is not over yet. The two teams will meet again as the 2nd Test begins from Thursday in Southampton. England took a 1-0 lead after a comeback win in the first Test in Manchester. But Younis believes that even though he has an inexperienced bowling unit, his team still showed signs of dominance in the first Test.

“They are inexperienced, we can see that. And we don’t have a choice,” Waqar said at the pre-match web conference, as reported by Cricbuzz. “But unless they play, they can’t gain experience. We have to wait and be patient. Both Shaheen and Naseem are very talented. They are the ones who set up the last Test by bowling really well in the first innings. They bowled well in the second innings as well but were a little unfortunate.

“We cannot match our fast bowling experience with England’s, there’s no doubt about it. But you have to remember that our bowling attack is the same lineup that won us games against Sri Lanka at home. The series is not over, we will bounce back.”

“With Naseem Shah, he is very very talented and he is only 17-18 years of age, so he is still growing, his bones are growing…,” Younis said. “I don’t think he really bowled as well as we expected in the previous game, but he can really bowl well and take the opposition on at times. Because he is young, he is inexperienced and it gets tough at times. He is one for the future, he is going to get stronger and fitter and will be able to bowl longer spells and will cause trouble to batsmen around the world.

“Yasir is a match winner,” Younis added. “A very attacking bowler, he likes to be involved in the game all the time. You see it with his batting, his bowling and his aggressive approach. We are very lucky to have him. He has won Pakistan heaps of games in the past and his record really speaks for itself.

“Unfortunately he couldn’t really finish the game (in Manchester). That pitch was tailor-made for him and he picked up eight wickets. He could have rolled England over but that is the way cricket goes. Sometimes it goes your way and sometimes it doesn’t. We have full faith in him that he will deliver in the coming games.”

Speaking on Ben Stokes’ absence, Younis said: “I wouldn’t say it’s a boost after the way we bowled at him in the previous game. “We had very clear plans and I think we executed really well.

It is unfortunate for cricket that he is not around but there’s no doubt he’s a match winner so for him to not be there probably makes England a touch light when you talk about their middle order. We’re going to talk about that and try to cash in on it,” he signed off.