1st test Lord’s, May 24–27England (won toss) R B4/6 R B4/6
AN Cook b Amir 70148 14 lbw b Abbas 1 100
MD Stoneman b Abbas 4 12 1 b Shadab 945 1
JE Root* c Sarfraz b Hasan 424 0 lbw b Abbas 681208
DJ Malan c Sarfraz b Hasan 6 3 1 c Sarfraz b Amir 1250 1
JM Bairstow† b Faheem 2759 4 b Amir 0 20
BA Stokes lbw b Abbas 3864 5/1 c sub b Shadab 9 102
JC Buttler c Shafiq b Hasan 14 15 2 lbw b Abbas 67138 6
DM Bess c Shafiq b Abbas 5 14 1 b Amir 57106 8
MA Wood c Amir b Hasan 7 9 1 c Sarfraz b Amir 4 8 1
SCJ Broad lbw b Abbas 0 2 0 c Sarfraz b Abbas 0 20
JM Andersonnot out 0 1 0 not out 0 20
Extras b1 lb6 nb1 w1 9 b4 lb9 w2 15
Total 58.2 overs 184 82.1 overs 242
Fall of wickets12 33 43 100 149 168 168 180 180 1 31 91 91 104 110 236 241 242
Bowling (1st) Mohammad Amir 14-3-41-1, Mohammad Abbas 14-7-23-4,
Hasan Ali 15.2-2-51-4, Faheem Ashraf 9-2-28-1, Shadab Khan 6-0-34-0
(2nd) Mohammad Amir 18.1-3-36-4, Mohammad Abbas 17-3-41-4,
Faheem Ashraf 9-2-31-0, Hasan Ali 19-3-58-0, Shadab Khan 19-2-63-2Pakistan R B4/6 R B4/6
Azhar Ali lbw b Anderson 50136 6 b Anderson 410 1
Imam-ul-Haq lbw b Broad 4 16 1 not out 1834 2
Haris Sohail c Bairstow b Wood 3995 5 not out 3932 6/1
Asad Shafiq c Malan b Stokes 59100 6/1 - - -
Babar Azam retired hurt 68 120 10 - - -
Sarfraz Ahmed*† c Wood b Stokes 924 1 - - -
Shadab Khan c Bairstow b Stokes 5285 6 - - -
Faheem Ashraf b Anderson 3738 7 - - -
Mohammad Amir not out 2446 4 - - -
Hasan Ali c Buttler b Anderson 0 2 0 - - -
Mohammad Abbasc Bairstow b Wood 526 1 - - -
Extras lb14 nb1 w1 16 b3 lb2 5
Total 114.3 overs 363 12.4 overs 66/1
Fall of wickets 12 87 119 203 227 246 318 332 337 12
Bowling (1st) Anderson 26-6-82-3, Broad 25-9-61-1,
Wood 24.3-6-74-2, Stokes 22-5-73-3, Bess 17-0-59-0
(2nd) Anderson 3-0-12-1, Broad 3-1-13-0,
Bess 3.4-0-29-0, Wood 3-1-7-0
Man of the match Mohammad Abbas
Umpires RJ Tucker (A), PR Reiffel (A); BNJ Oxenford (A)
Match Referee JJ Crowe (NZ)
Pakistan won by 9 wicketsMarks out of 10
England
7 Root Batting was fine but
captaincy under the spotlight;
Cook Game looks in decent
working order again. Buttler
Very good knock second
time around. Stokes Decent
cameo first innings, woeful
exit second, good bowling.
6 Bess Gutsy batting, but
bowling needs to improve at
Test level. Wood Unlucky,
fought hard. Broad Not
bad but lots of talk about
his length. Anderson Same
as Broad.5 Bairstow Tough time
against Pakistan’s quality
bowling. Malan Applied
himself in second innings but
under a bit of pressure now.
4 Stoneman Horribly out
of nick.Pakistan
9 Mohammad Abbas
8.5 Babar Azam
8 Haris Sohail, Asad
Shafiq, Sarfraz Ahmed,
Mohammad Amir
7 Azhar Ali, Shadab Khan,
Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali
5 Imam-ul-Haqthere were also three exquisite cover
drives for four, suggesting good
form. His former Essex team-mate
Mohammad Amir came good after an
average start, though, and dismissed
him with a beauty. There were
decent cameos from Jonny Bairstow
and Ben Stokes, but England needed
at least one of them to go on, as the
last six wickets fell for 35. England’s
184 was their second-lowest total
having won the toss and chosen to
bat in a Lord’s Test.
Their seamers were then inferior
to Pakistan’s. England’s new tutor
Chris Silverwood is obviously an
excellent coach, leading Essex
to the title. It was pointed out,
however, that he often bowled back
of a length as default himself: the
same criticism continually aimed at
James Anderson and Stuart Broad.
Can he make them change? Hmmm.
Once Anderson switched to the
Nursery End, where he enjoys
greater success (why didn’t he start
off from there?) he improved. Broad
was not bad as such; Mark Wood
had scant luck, and there was little
in it for Bess, England’s youngest
ever finger-spinner at the age of 20
years, 306 days. Ben Stokes probably
looked England’s most dangerous
bowler, once he had re-adjusted to
Test mode at last.
The catching was poor, though,
with five chances shelled. Azhar
Ali (who gradually moved through
the gears), Haris Sohail and Shadab
Khan, who looks a fine all-round
prospect, then grafted for half-
centuries, and Babar Azam may
well have reached three figures if he
had not had his forearm broken by
Stokes. Pakistan added exactly 300
on day two to the 50 they made on the
first evening, and eventually finished
with a lead of 179 which looked as if
it would be decisive, and was.
England showed a little more
application on the third day, but
still found themselves in terrible
trouble at 110 for 6 thanks to superb
bowling. Mark Stoneman’s Test
career was probably brought to an
end (terminating England’s worst
opening partnership, with Cook,
according to the stats – minimum
of 15 Test innings).
Root played very well for 68, but it
was the 17th time he has passed 50
since he became captain, and he has
only converted into centuries twice.
Buttler – vindicating Ed Smith’s
decision to recall him – and Bess
added 131 uplifting runs, and there
was talk of a repeat of Headingley
1981 and so on. They did not do
anything outrageous, it was just
good, orthodox batting. This was the
first time the tourists looked a little
panicky, overdoing the short stuff,
but their impressive coach Mickey
Arthur waved for them to calm
down and regroup from the balcony,
reminding them they were only 56
behind at the close.
Whatever England did that night
to relax, however, and we can
assume they did not have a barbecue
and hold wheelbarrow races around
Ian Botham’s gaffe as happened 37
years ago, it did not work.
Pakistan blew the last four wickets
away pretty quickly (Abbas again
taking four wickets, with four also
for Amir), then knocked off the runs
they needed with ease.
“This Pakistan team is damn good,”
an impressed Viv Richards told The
Cricketer. “They are the emerging
team. I have worked with many of
them. They have a battery of seven,
eight fast bowlers who could make
any team in the world. They could
loan out a couple to teams, they
have so many to spare – like West
Indies in the 1980s! They have talent
in abundance.”
Also pleasingly there was not any
great controversy (I don’t count the
tourists being fined 30 per cent of
their match fee, and the skipper 60,
for a slow over-rate), except for some
of them being told to take off their
smart watches.
England could do with smartening
up at Headingley. Trevor Bayliss
says England “were nowhere near
good enough for Test level”. It was
the 20th defeat in 40 Tests under
him (with six draws); there have
also been six losses in their last
eight Tests, and three in four at
Lord’s. Time is surely running out
for him.Mohammad
Abbas had a
splendid TestAlastair Cook
looked his old self
in the first innings
thecricketer.com | 83TesT reporT | InternatIonal