England vs Pakistan: Ben Stokes describes Yasir Shah as the best leggie since Shane Warne

All-rounder says team-mates can handle new world No 1 bowler

Ben Stokes will be back in England colours against Pakistan

Ben Stokes describes Yasir Shah as the best leg-spinner since Shane Warne - but is still confident England can deal with the threat he poses at Old Trafford.

Yasir shot to the top of the International Cricket Council rankings with his 10-wicket haul at Lord's as, in his first Test outside Asia, Pakistan went 1-0 up in the Investec series last week. The England captain Alastair Cook bemoaned his team's “naive” batting against the tourists' match-winner, and promised a collective improvement by the time the second Test starts here in Manchester on Friday.

Stokes, like England's all-time leading wicket-taker James Anderson, was absent at HQ and will be back this week - both having proved their fitness following injury in the Specsavers County Championship match between Lancashire and Durham at Southport. Anderson's unavailability for Lord's was controversial, amid reports that the captain and coach Trevor Bayliss were voted down in a selection meeting which urged caution with the seamer's shoulder injury.

The whys and wherefores of Anderson's late start to the series arguably made little difference in a match which saw England's batting, rather than their bowling, come up short. They will make none at Old Trafford either, where the hosts will surely be best advised to focus most prominently on how to combat Yasir - especially at a venue more likely to favour spin.

Stokes saw enough from afar, as well as in two Tests against Yasir in the United Arab Emirates last winter, to have little doubt no one has come as close to Warne's skill levels since the great Australian's retirement almost a decade ago.

“Yasir Shah is the best leg-spinner, I think, since Warne,” said the all-rounder. “But we come to this Test and know how he goes about bowling - and we should be able to counteract that.”

Ben Stokes has recovered from injury and will be back in action at Old Trafford (Getty)

England went to significant lengths, to little avail of course, in their preparation to face Yasir at Lord's. They have also recruited former Pakistan off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq as an expert consultant here.

“The training down at Lord's was heavily about getting the lads prepared for the leg-spin,” added Stokes. “We'll be doing the same again here in these two days of prep. We'll be getting our heads round a gameplan, and how we'll be wanting to play against him.”

Stokes' omission from England's squad last week was less of a surprise tthan Anderson's. He has clarified that he had “no issue” about the decision not to pick him as a specialist batsman.

“I wouldn't have said 'no',” he revealed. “But when I got told, 'We are not going to select you' it was like, 'Right, OK, fine'. 'We want you to get back to what you do best for England', and that's obviously what I want to be doing - so it wasn't really an issue for me not getting selected as a batsman.

“It gave me time to focus more on getting back to fitness rather than having to worry about playing in a game where I wasn't able to bowl. I'd only bowled once off my full run-up before going down to Lord's - (it was) only really the third time I'd bowled off my full run when I bowled against Lancashire.

“It was probably the best thing they could have done for me to get me back - getting some overs under my belt for Durham. I've played as a batsman for two weeks, so it was something I definitely did need - bowling in a match situation - because ... you can never replicate that. It was a massive confidence boost as well.”

At Southport, after two days in the Lord's nets, Stokes discovered first hand too that Anderson is in fine shape for his home Test.

“He was definitely ready,” Stokes said. “You could tell he was the number one bowler in the world just from watching him and facing him ... he seemed 100 per cent Jimmy Anderson.”

Whether he was before Lord's, too, remains the imponderable.

Stokes added: “It must be really tough ... players saying they are fit, and [others] saying I am not yet, so I am glad I don't have to make the decision. You have to have the balance.

“I know that if I feel fit I will say I feel fit ... but it's down to the guys who make the decision. You can say you are fit, but others who make that decision might not deem it to be right.”