Cook dicing with a follow-on farce
It WILL only become an issue if England fail to win a second test against Pakistan which they have dominated for three days, and Alastair Cook is forced to face the music with his side still one down with only two to play.
Until then, the England captain cannot be considered to have made a mistake with his surprise decision not to enforce the follow-on, with Pakistan on the ropes and still 391 runs behind after being brushed aside for just 198.
that did not stop him being the subject of the incredulity of virtually every pundit in the television and radio boxes, however, for his apparent lack of ruthlessness in deciding to follow the modern convention of batting again.
Rarely can there have been such universal disapproval over a decision from the many former England captains, coaches and players in the Sky and BBC ranks, with varying degrees of outrage.
Michael Vaughan, the most vociferous of the former captains, told listeners: ‘I’m absolutely staggered. they are 391 runs ahead and there have been intervals — 391 runs! Win the game today. Why delay it? What happens if it rains again?’
However, assistant coach Paul Farbrace defended Cook.
‘the key to it was that we wanted to bat while the wicket was still good,’ said Farbrace after England had reached stumps on 98 for one in their second innings, with Cook unbeaten on 49 — an overall lead of 489.
‘We don’t want to put ourselves under any pressure whatsoever by chasing a score on a pitch that may deteriorate over the next two days.
‘I can understand why people think we should have enforced the follow-on. We didn’t, but we’re happy with our decision.’
this was similar to the Headingley test of 2013, when England were criticised for not making New Zealand follow-on and then saw an agitated Andy Flower forced to urge the groundstaff to make sure play took place on the final day.
England won then and should still win now, but Cook will be banking on a forecast that predicts dry weather on the final two days here being accurate, particularly with the Old trafford outfield damaged by recent pop concerts.
If it is not, and rain makes the outfield unplayable, then Cook could rue his failure to do what he did both at Headingley and Durham earlier this season when he twice made Sri Lanka follow-on and saw his side win both times.
these days, it is far more common for teams to bat again, grind the opposition into the dust and eliminate even the remotest possibility of a side turning the tables and pulling off a cricketing miracle, a la Headingley 1981.
It is easy to understand Cook’s logic, with an attack containing two bowlers returning from injury in Jimmy Anderson and Ben Stokes, and so much time left in the game, in defying pundits and the knee-jerk twitter ‘experts’. It is just that this move seemed to be at odds with England’s modern mood of positivity and the second conservative decision, following the late omission of Adil Rashid, produced by England in this test.
they are decisions, it should be said in the interest of balance, made by Cook and coach trevor Bayliss, rather than selectors lambasted for overly cautious calls this year, mainly the one to leave Anderson and Stokes out at Lord’s.
It did not help Cook that so much of the remainder of the third day of this second Investec test was lost to rain after he set out with Alex Hales presumably with the intention of declaring last night and having another blast at Pakistan.
the unexpected intervention of the elements allowed England to only advance that already huge lead by another 98 for the loss of Hales by the extended close and they will surely now want to have a thrash today and be bowling again before lunch.
the worst consequence of the whole follow-on fall-out is that it overshadowed an outstanding bowling display from a side looking much stronger for the return of Anderson and Stokes on a third successive impressive day for England.
Cook would surely have enforced that follow-on had his attack quickly taken the final two wickets to fall after they had reduced Pakistan to 119 for eight at lunch, Yasir Shah falling on the stroke of the interval to become a fourth victim for England’s most improved player of the season in Chris Woakes.
What a turnaround Woakes has produced after working so hard, in particular with Kevin Shine at Loughborough and Graeme Welch at Warwickshire, to take that elusive step up to become a quality test all-rounder.
the statistics say it all. Woakes, who had taken just eight expensive test wickets at the start of the season, has added 23 more now this summer at 13 apiece while adding 221 runs at 55. Outstanding.
If Woakes was again the most successful bowler, fully justifying the faith the selectors have put in him this year, then the man he replaced for the second test against Sri Lanka in Stokes made an eye-catching return with the ball.
Stokes may have only taken the wicket of Sarfraz Ahmed, but his duel with his nemesis Wahab Riaz was a compelling one during an unlikely ninth-wicket stand of 60 with Misbah-ul-Haq that changed Cook’s thinking.
It was left to Moeen Ali to finally dismiss Misbah and Wahab, but not before both had again attempted to hit him out of the attack, Misbah greeting his arrival with a reverse swept four and Wahab smashing him into the stands.
Moeen’s 7.4 overs disappeared at 5.60 an over and he will face another testing examination of his continuing status as England’s leading spinner when Pakistan finally bat again on a pitch that is expected to offer more turn. England may have made absolutely sure they would not have to face a tricky run chase up against Yasir by batting again now but that puts the onus on Moeen to step up when expectations will be on him.
Moeen, more than most, will today be expected to spare Cook’s blushes and ensure England clinch the victory they could have taken big steps towards already had Cook been more bold with his big call yesterday.