BROAD SWORD STRIKES BLOW
He wins Vaughan spat with star role in crushing victory
It was entirely apt that Stuart Broad should take the final wicket of a second
test just as onesided as the one England lost so horribly at Lord’s.
Broad’s spat with his friend and former captain Michael Vaughan has been the curious sub-plot of a win England so badly needed after a miserable run of five defeats in eight tests had taken them to the brink of fully blown crisis.
It started with Vaughan saying England might ‘ruffle a few feathers’ by dropping one of their big two bowling beasts here and ended, several verbal exchanges later, with Broad having the final word on the pitch.
We can safely assume no-one will be calling for Broad’s head now after he confirmed his return to his very best after an Ashes he described as ‘rubbish’ with six wickets in a victory by an innings and 55 runs.
Broad was the pick of the attack throughout this test, just as he was two tests ago in Christchurch and at times at Lord’s, and deserves every credit for remodelling his action at an advanced stage of his illustrious career. He is now on the brink of the all-time top 10 world wicket-takers list with plenty still to come.
the performance was just one outstanding aspect of an allround impressive team display that was the polar opposite to Lord’s where England were out-batted, out-bowled and outfielded by Pakistan.
How England needed their first win in nine tests and how maddening it must be for captain Joe Root and coach trevor Bayliss that their team seem to have to plumb the depths before showing what they are really capable of. At least this emphatic win, effectively sealed in just seven sessions, will give England breathing space as they return to the white-ball cricket where they have no such problems and the small matter of a oneday series against Australia. But Root and Bayliss will know they cannot afford to start so badly when they face India in their next test assignment, 59 days away, if this is not to be yet another false dawn in their attempt to climb back up the test rankings. Make no mistake, it would have been hard for Bayliss to carry on as test coach if his side had lost again here, so the stakes were high at a venue where England had lost six of their last eight tests.
there was never any danger of that miserable run being extended now at a Headingley that, frankly, should not have been staging this test while the ground resembled a building site. Better to wait until the new stand is complete.
Yet there is always drama here and even if much of it was provided off the pitch with the Broad v Vaughn heavyweight scrap, there was plenty for England to be pleased with on it.
And nothing will please them more than the successful return of Jos Buttler (left) to test cricket after 18 months when England bafflingly sidelined their most gifted cricketer from the longest form of the game.
He made the difference here, showing he can adapt to batting in difficult test conditions on Saturday and then taking the game away from Pakistan yesterday by brilliantly extending England’s lead out of reach.
Buttler went to his second successive half-century with a six off Mohammad Abbas and then, as he began to run out of partners, he took the attack to Pakistan as only he can, hitting 15 off a Faheem Ashraf over and hitting 35 off his last 11 balls to finish unbeaten on 80. And it came after he was dropped on four on Saturday in the costliest of misses by Pakistan.
So England go into test hibernation on a high note and now it is back to the all-action white-ball team with one year to go before the World Cup. And any talk of a crisis can be put on hold.