Root’s battered troops plumb new depths
Nine-wicket loss leaves England humiliated Captain forced to deny ‘outrageous’ fixing claim
It has been an awful few days for English cricket. To be hammered at their headquarters by Pakistan in perfect English conditions was bad enough, but then Joe Root had to fend off questions about matchfixing allegations involving the England Test team.
How Pakistan must have smiled to see an Englishman at Lord’s answering questions about fixing while they celebrated a famous win. Root denied the “outrageous” claims made in a documentary by Al Jazeera, released on their website just moments before the teams took the field at Lord’s yesterday, and the England and Wales Cricket Board is confident there is nothing to worry about, but it is yet another distraction for an England team that has enough problems already.
England were beaten by nine wickets, a fair reflection of a match in which Pakistan won every session apart from the brief rally by Jos Buttler and Dominic Bess on Saturday evening. It only held up the inevitable.
After a night’s rest, Pakistan were invigorated and England collapsed once again, losing four wickets for six runs in 25 balls.
Buttler was dismissed in the over before the new ball was due by the brilliant Mohammad Abbas. It snuffed out any hopes of an audacious comeback. Set 64 to win, Pakistan lost Azhar Ali, bowled by the kind of pitched-up delivery from James Anderson that England badly needed on Saturday morning, but the run chase held few alarms and the game was over half an hour before lunch.
Mickey Arthur, coach of Pakistan, ranked the result as one of the highlights of his career. “The guys played unbelievably and that Test performance was as good as any I have been involved in,” he said.
Before this Test, Arthur was asked if he was interested in succeeding Trevor Bayliss next year as England head coach. He deferred to his current employer, saying he is happy with Pakistan, but Arthur has rebuilt his reputation and should be high on the list.
Bayliss has lost 20 out of 41 Tests since he took charge before the 2015 Ashes, including seven of the past 10. No player has emerged to become a regular in the team, a sign of some sort of progress. Instead, batsmen have come and gone and the bowling remains reliant on the decade-old partnership of Stuart Broad and Anderson. Bayliss is under more pressure than at any other stage of his time with England. That he is a wonderful coach of the white-ball team is not in doubt. He has built a rapport with Eoin Morgan and has encouraged talented cricketers to play with freedom. But the same approach in Test cricket is not working.
It was always unfair to judge Bayliss until he was given the Test captain he wanted in Joe Root. Alastair Cook, with his cautious, conservative ways, was respected by Bayliss, but they are from different ends of the cricketing spectrum. Root was his man, but after a year together the team have gone backwards.
The national selector, James Whitaker, was the fall guy for the Ashes defeat, but now Bayliss is next in line. However, with Andrew Strauss on compassionate leave, there is a leadership vacuum at the top of the ECB.
Andy Flower has stepped in to cover for Strauss, but is unlikely to take any major decisions in that time. Strauss had his opportunity to make the change after the Ashes and the New Zealand tour. It was the moment to split the coaching roles, but he decided not to take action and Bayliss will see out this summer at least in charge of both teams.
Before this match Root believed the team had changed. He felt they had prepared for this Test better than ever before.
But only a handful of first-class matches and two players returning from the IPL is not enough preparation when compared to a Pakistan team who have been here a month and had a good workout against Ireland, where according to their captain, Sarfraz Ahmed, they learnt to bowl full.
The series resumes at Heading-
ley on Friday. It is Root’s home ground, but England have a poor record at Leeds and Anderson, in particular, does not like bowling there. It demands the fuller length and England have lost to West Indies (2017), New Zealand (2015) and Sri Lanka (2014) in Leeds in recent seasons. Conditions will suit Pakistan, who will also have vocal support compared to Lord’s.
It will be a lively Test match with a lot at stake. Mark Stoneman should not be there. He has played 11 Tests and looks a county player who has to strain to compete, let alone excel, at Test level.
He has been gritty at times and was brave in Australia, but his partnership with Cook is statistically the worst of any England opening duo. He is the 12th player to try to replace Strauss as Cook’s partner and it is time to move on.