Root happy as England prove point
Dominant innings victory at Headingley squares series following poor performance at Lord’s
England bounced back from their first Test humiliation to rout Pakistan by an innings and 55 runs in the second Test at Headingley yesterday and square the two-match series 1-1.
The victory halfway through the third day was as comprehensive as Pakistan’s triumph had been at Lord’s, with England looking a completely different team from the one that had subsided to a nine-wicket defeat. Joe Root’s side responded to the heavy criticism they received with a virtuoso allround performance.
In the morning, man-of-thematch Jos Buttler finished unbeaten on 80 as England extended their overnight total to 363, a lead of 189 runs, before Pakistan were bowled out for 134 in their second innings.
Stuart Broad and Dominic Bess both took three wickets and captain Root admitted his side had been determined to bounce back after their firstTest debacle.
“A few of the guys stood up with a point to prove,” he said. “The senior bowlers set the tone and as a group it was really good. It swung first day, then seam came into it and there was also a bit of spin. It made for really good cricket.”
Buttler put down a marker for the day, smashing priceless runs as England added a creditable 61 to their overnight total to leave Pakistan with a desperate survival mission in conditions that still offered considerable assistance to the bowlers.
Although Azhar Ali clubbed James Anderson’s first ball to the boundary, the paceman soon got his revenge by clattering the opener’s stumps after a quickfire 11.
From there, wickets fell regularly throughout the day with Anderson making a second breakthrough on 30 when Haris Sohail was superbly caught one-handed by Bess at mid-off.
For all his heroics in the field and with the bat in his first two matches, what the 20-year-old Bess really wanted was a Test wicket and, after Broad accounted for Asad Shafiq, Bess’s moment duly arrived when Imam ul-Haq was trapped leg before for 34. Two more followed to leave the Somerset off-spinner with fine figures of 3-33, only marginally bettered by Broad’s 3-28.
The paceman delivered the final blow when Mohammad Abbas, who was later named man of the series, was caught by Root in the slips for a single.
Root believes the win set up England for the five-Test series against top-ranked India starting in August. “We can beat India,” he said. “Absolutely. It is about making sure we have learned our lessons.”
Buttler, who was England’s man of the match, added: “After a tough week at Lord’s, to come here and produce a performance shows what this team is about. It was all about playing situations.”
It was not all good news for England as all-rounder Ben Stokes will miss the one-dayer against Scotland in Edinburgh and the first part of the five-match ODI series against Australia as he recovers from a hamstring injury.
Dawid Malan has been added to the squad for the Scotland game on June 10 and Sam Billings was called up for the Australia series.
Defeat denied Pakistan the opportunity of a first series win in England since 1996.
Sarfraz Ahmed, the Pakistan captain, said: “We did not bat well. Credit to England, they bowled really well.”
“We did not bat well. Credit to England, they bowled really well.”
Man-of-the-series Mohammad Abbas said at the postmatch presentation: “Thank you so much, disappointed not to get the five-for at Lord’s and get on the honours board, but if Pakistan had won the series it would have been the icing on the cake. But happy to be man of the series.”