Southampton, Aug 21 (IANS): England captain Joe Root on Friday won the toss and elected to bat in the third and final Test of the series against Pakistan being played at the Ageas Bowl.

"It (the pitch) looks a bit drier than the previous wicket, so we want to try and make most use of it first and exploit that later in the game," said Root. Sam Curran drops out again for the hosts, with Jofra Archer back in the side. England want him to "operate in short, sharp spells and bowl fast", Root added.

Meanwhile, Pakistan have not made any changes to their Playing XI which featured in the last game. "It looks a very good track. We'll try to pick up early wickets and utiilise the conditions," said Pakistan skipper Azhar Ali. "It's a very important game, a must-win for us."

England already hold a 1-0 lead in the series having won the first Test by three wickets in Manchester while the second Test had ended in a pale draw.

Playing XIs

England: Rory Burns, Dominic Sibley, Zak Crawley, Joe Root(c), Ollie Pope, Jos Buttler(w), Chris Woakes, Dominic Bess, Jofra Archer, Stuart Broad, James Anderson

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