England are better players of swing & seam bowling than spin so i think Afridi should play plus if lords is a good bating wicket as you are suggesting then we might need some quick runs so Afridi Akmal Razzak 6,7 & 8 are perfect and to consider afridi less than a front line bowler is simply put wrong.
For someone that is averaging in the high 40s with the bat and 32-33 with the bowl in his last 10 matches(return to Test cricket) he should be in the Test side more.