Alastair Cook and his boys put a full stop to all the clouds
and doubts surrounding England’s inability to play spin and about how are they
going to tackle the leggie Yasir shah by registering an authoritative 330-run
victory over Pakistan at Old Trafford, Manchester in the second Test. England
were solid right from the word go and in a way won the match on the very first
day when captain Cook led from the front with a sublime hundred, 29th
of his career and Joe Root remained unbeaten on 141 in England’s tally of 314/4
at stumps on day 1. Pakistan’s first Test’s hero Yasir Shah looked hapless on
day 1 and his toil continued even on day 2, when England and in-particular Joe
Root took him to the cleaners and smashed him all around the park. Root’s
magnificent 254 and with some useful contributions from Woakes, Bairstow and
Stokes down the order, England piled up massive 589/8 before they declared
their first innings.
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| Man of the match: Joe Root |
With a deficit of 589 runs, it was obviously tough for
Pakistan, but no one expected them to crumble like they did late on day 2 and
in the morning session on day 3. England’s bowling attack was bolstered by the
addition of their premiere swing bowler James Anderson and all-rounder Ben Stokes.
But the bowler who did most of the damage for England was Chris Woakes, the man
who looks to be on a mission and just can’t do anything wrong at the moment. With
opening pair not contributing, Azhar Ali and Younis Khan’s slump in form and
middle order collapse, at 119/8, it was too much to do for the captain Misbah
and the tail. Misbah-ul-Haq’s resilience and Wahab Riaz’s cameo somehow helped
Pakistan scratch to 198.
With a huge lead of 391 runs, all eyes were on Cook,
but to everyone’s surprise, he didn’t enforce the follow-on in spite of rain
looming in the air and England came out to bat just for 2.4 overs before rain
stopped the play. After the rain break, players took the field and England
raced to 98/1 at stumps on day 3. On day 4, England plundered runs and at
173/1, declared their innings and set Pakistan an improbable 565 runs to win.
In their second innings, it was the same old
story for Pakistan. Openers once again failed to click collectively, Azhar Ali
fell cheaply while Younis Khan, Misbah and Asad Shafiq, all got starts, but not
a single batsman was successful to convert that start into something
substantial. Pakistan’s innings was finally folded for 234 and wickets were shared
by Anderson, Woakes and Ali with 3 wickets a piece.
It was a remarkable victory
for England while Pakistan find themselves in a cluster of problems. Collective
failure of the openers, poor form of their consistent batsmen Azhar Ali and
veteran Younis Khan and the dent in the confidence of their leggie Yasir Shah after
all the hammering he went through are some of the issues that Pakistan would
look forward to sort out before they play their next Test in Birmingham.
Scores:
England 589/8 dec & 173/1 dec
Pakistan 198 & 234
England won by 330 runs.
