Broad leads the England resurgence
Crisis, what crisis? This was much more like it from England, with ball, bat and in the field, as they put the horrors of Lord’s behind them with an emphatic start to a second Test against Pakistan they cannot afford to lose.
From the moment stuart Broad struck with the final ball of his first over, England were a completely different side from the one thrashed so humiliatingly by Pakistan in the first Test that left careers in jeopardy.
Only when Alastair Cook, who had looked so fluent in moving to 46, got himself out just before the close, feathering an edge off an attempted pull, was England’s mood in any danger.
it is far too early to say an England side with such a propensity to collapse are out of the woods yet but, at 106 for two in reply to Pakistan’s substandard 174, they have laid the platform to go on and square this two-match series.
How maddening it must be for Joe root that England seem to need a miserable defeat to shake them out of their torpor and finally show that there really might be a decent Test side in there somewhere.
They hit back against south Africa last year after a truly awful defeat at Trent Bridge and then did the same against West indies after seeing shai Hope lead an historic run chase at this ground.
The need for vast improvement now, after a winter without a single Test win, was more acute than ever and root in particular will be mightily relieved his side answered his passionate pre-Test rallying call so impressively.
it was not without irony that Pakistan struggled after captain sarfraz Ahmed had won the toss and, just as root did at Lord’s last week, decided to bat.
To be fair to sarfraz, both a flat, brown-looking pitch and the conditions appeared perfect for batting, but what could not be taken into account was the enduring mystery of swing bowling.
root called it right when he said at the toss that the Leeds humidity might cause the ball to move through the air and how it did for England’s bowlers, even though the swing master himself, Jimmy Anderson, initially struggled.
it was not until he returned after lunch for a second spell from the current building site that is the Football stand End that he started to threaten the stumps, bowling sarfraz off his pads and adding two more wickets.
But the pick of the attack was undoubtedly Broad, who has looked a rejuvenated bowler since he took himself off to the Trent Bridge indoor nets and remodelled his action after a hugely-disappointing Ashes.
Broad has his old zip and confidence back and is not afraid to pitch the ball up, as he showed by starting the Pakistan rot, ripping out openers imam-ul-Haq and Azhar Ali and ending up with three wickets of his own.
it was curious that one of Broad’s old captains, Michael Vaughan, said after Lord’s that England should shake things up by dropping one of the big bowling two and nominated Broad as the likelier candidate.
Anderson and Broad are not perfect — they did, after all, waste England’s advantage bowling first under lights in Adelaide last winter — but they are their country’s greatest new-ball partnership and they still have much to give.
The fact is, they are the least of England’s problems and root was absolutely right not only to retain them here but also give them the new ball ahead of a debutant in sam Curran, who really needs to open the bowling to be effective.
Curran, at 19 England’s seventh-youngest Test cricketer, was a shock replacement for the injured Ben stokes, not least because he bowls at barely more than 80mph and, at 5ft 9in, will never get much bounce.
if Curran, who could end up as a batting all-rounder, is to have a future at this level, he will need the ball to swing and even when it did here yesterday, he was the least effective of the England attack.
But at least he was able to claim his first Test wicket when he ended the resistance of another teenager, shadab Khan, after he had made his third half-century in his first four Tests to save Pakistan from complete capitulation.
Thanks to shadab’s 56, Pakistan recovered from the depths of 79 for seven to add 95 for the last three wickets, Chris Woakes marking his return with three expensive scalps, but it was still looking well below par by the close.
Keaton Jennings looked a different batsman from the one worked over by south Africa’s Vernon Philander last year and there were glimpses of class in a rare English half-century opening partnership with Cook.
But it was the former captain, in his record-breaking 154th successive Test, who showed the right balance of attack and defence, playing one cover drive as good as any you will see before he was undone by a lack of pace from Hasan Ali.
root, who almost galloped to the crease to begin his innings, is still there and again has done the hard work in getting in. This time he must make the most of it and go on to the big score that should win this game for his side. And that would make England’s Test life look a great deal more rosy.