Pakistan Triumphant
After humbling Sri Lanka, England might have thought that this summer would be a breeze, and that they would sweep aside Pakistan as easily as they would Sri Lanka. Sadly, this is not what happened. Well in truth, it's not sad at all, since Pakistan, being a far better side than Sri Lanka, gave England one of the best examples of why test match cricket is the best in the business. This was test match cricket at its absolute finest. Two reasonably evenly matched sides, going blow for blow for five (or in this case four) days, and we didn't know who was going to win until the last hour or so of Sunday, although Pakistan had the edge for most of the final day.
Part of why this match made me angry is, in truth, part of what made it such compelling cricket. It wasn't incredible because these were two sides playing out of their skins, but because neither of them were perfect and both the strengths and weaknesses of both of these sides were on full display as a flawed, gritty and utterly engaging four days of cricket exposed. Pakistan have some world class players, as Misbah showed on the first day, Yasir Shah showed on the second and Wahab Riaz to an extent showed on the fourth. But they were horribly inconsistent. Misbah was hot in the first innings, but embarrassingly cold in the second. Yasir Shah, so dangerous on Day Two as he ripped through England, was largely a bit part player on the final day. England are a bowling side of utter quality, as they were able to carry Finn, barely bowl their spinner in the first innings and missing Jimmy Anderson and Ben Stokes, were still able to rip through Pakistan's batting order, Chris Woakes the man of the match with an exceptional 11-102 and Stuart Broad chipping in.
In truth, 339 and 215 should have been nowhere enough to win this test match. But the inherent fragility of this England batting line up, particularly but not limited to, the sloppy middle order, reared its ugly head as they slumped to 272 and 207. And that would have been fine if Pakistan had produced two bowling displays of utter quality, to have ripped through England with sublime pace and skill. But Wahab Riaz and Mohammed Amir, the two big name pace bowlers, were wayward and very poor for large swathes of the match. In the first innings, each of Pakistan's three left armers took one wicket and none of them deserved more than that. And in the second, Rahat Ali was able to take three wickets whilst bowling about five good balls in that period. Yasir, despite being absolutely phenomenal all test match, should not have been allowed to take ten wickets for 141.
Simply put, England played suicidal cricket. Poor shot selection, poor execution, and poor ability to deal with pressure all played their part in making the test match so compelling, but also served to infuriate, as England could have made what was an utterly fantastic final day even better, had they at the very least got closer to the 283 runs that Pakistan set them to win, and to be honest, should have put more pressure on Pakistan's first innings total.
If I sound like I'm taking away from Pakistan then I'm not, because they absolutely deserved to win. England were the better bowling side but Misbah's first innings hundred was the decisive blow struck with the bat, and Pakistan were superior with the bat in both innings. But the point remains that at multiple crucial points in the match, England acted completely boneheadedly. Joe Root stands as a glaringly obvious perpetrator. He was fuming with himself for playing a ridiculous sweep shot on 48, with England in total control of their first innings, exposing a fragile middle order of Vince and Ballance to Shah, who was causing Root no problems. But then, he did something similar in the second innings, playing a shockingly loose and unnecessary pull shot to get himself out. Hales and Vince were just as bad chasing the game, playing sloppy cut shots they should have been leaving well alone.
To Bairstow and Ballance's credit in the second innings, they both played much better. They worked out how Shah had gotten them out in the first innings and played him excellently, until they both made small errors that Shah punished brilliantly. But when Ballance leaned across and the ball shot across him to take his leg stump, and Moeen Ali came to the crease, his rush of blood was unforgivable. Dancing down the crease to Shah after two balls, only to have his bails dislodged. At 139-5, England had a chance, with two recognised batsmen at the crease. With Moeen gone, they stood no chance. Bairstow and Woakes made a good fist of it, engaging Wahab and Yasir in arguably the best passage of cricket in the entire match, as the two batsmen and two bowlers all brought their A+ game and it made for a fantastic battle.
Overall, my sense coming out of this test match is overwhelming frustration. England should have won this match, but they threw it away. Every time they had the momentum, they let Pakistan take it back, although Pakistan deserve a lot of credit for the way they kept wrestling back control. Adil Rashid, James Anderson and Ben Stokes are all in the squad for Old Trafford and I would expect all three of them to play (assuming Anderson is fit). Jake Ball and Steven Finn will both almost certainly be dropped, and hopefully Moeen Ali will be too, although James Vince couldn't have any complaints if he was dropped too.
So England will either line up:
Cook, Hales, Root, Vince, Ballance, Bairstow, Stokes, Woakes, Rashid, Broad, Anderson
Cook, Hales, Root, Vince, Ballance, Bairstow, Stokes, Woakes, Rashid, Broad, Anderson
Cook, Hales, Root, Ballance, Bairstow, Stokes, Moeen, Woakes, Rashid, Broad, Anderson.
And for me both have their ups and downs. But England need to find a strong and more importantly consistent middle order, if they want to beat Pakistan in this series, as, frankly, they should.
The Hard and Fast Section
- What a performance from Henrik Stenson.
- Wjnaldum?? Give me a break.
- Amazing stuff from Kyle Edmund. GB win.
- Russia and the Olympics. What a mess.
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