England are back on the front foot after Root’s rallying call
CHALLENGED to get their house in order after the shambles of Lord’s, England have spent two days in Leeds applying a fresh lick of paint and relaying the carpet. Now they must fix the roof.
After rain delayed the start of the second day of a must-win second Test, their batsmen set about building an advantage that ought to scupper Pakistan’s ambitions of a first series win in this country for 22 years.
And if Joe Root is frustrated that no one reached 50, then the manner of England’s 302 for seven, a lead of 128, suggested everyone had been listening to his pre-match clarion call.
On a pitch where the occasional ball has reared unexpectedly, everyone chipped in — even No 9 Sam Curran, pulling and straight-driving boundaries in the last over of the day.
It is the kind of team effort that wins Tests and saves jobs. Right now, that is all that England care about. For Root and particularly for coach Trevor Bayliss, the resolve will have come as a relief. Bayliss cut a hapless figure after the first Test defeat, joking he would have more time for gardening if the axe fell.
Had an England football manager made the same crack, he might have opened the papers next morning to find his head on a turnip.
Bayliss, though, has always been the relaxed sort. Whether it can sustain him all the way to the 2019 Ashes is another matter, but a series-squaring victory here would be a start.
The good thing is that England have looked switched on from the moment Sarfraz Ahmed did them a favour on Friday and decided to bat.
Any suspicions their senior players are coasting towards retirement were dealt with by Stuart Broad’s angry response to Michael Vaughan’s criticisms about his place in the side — not to mention three wickets each for him and Jimmy Anderson, and 46 runs for Alastair Cook.
Put simply, this team are damned if they’re going to become the first England side to lose three Test series in a row for almost a decade.
No one embodied their guts and desire like Dominic Bess, a nightwatchman in all but name. Picked primarily for his off-spin, he is yet to take a wicket, but his batting looks as ordered and orthodox as any of his top-order colleagues.
At Lord’s, the 20-year-old made 56 to give England faint hope, and he was one short of another half-century when undone by the bounce of legspinner Shadab Khan and a smart slip catch by Asad Shafiq.
England have found a cricketer of real character. If he starts taking wickets, Moeen Ali may struggle to get back in the side.
Root had already come and gone for 45. But, until he feathered a drive against Mohammad Amir and trudged off in high dudgeon, his early flurry of strokes gave England a momentum they never really relinquished.
Neither did they ever quite manage to finish off Pakistan.
Dawid Malan began this game as the last survivor of the trio that began the Ashes at Brisbane in November. James Vince (Test average: 24) was dropped before Lord’s; Mark Stoneman (27) after it. But Malan now averages 29 — and only 17 since his successful tour of Australia.
A slump of the shoulders as he fiddled Amir’s first ball after tea low to first slip spoke of a chance missed. These days, few Test innings seem to go by without one England batsman or other playing for his career. It may be Malan’s turn if Pakistan can set something substantial in the fourth innings.
Their prospects would have been helped had Hasan Ali not dropped a simple chance at midwicket when Jos Buttler had made only four. England would have been 220 for six. Instead, Buttler and Jonny Bairstow added 48, before Bairstow edged Fahim Ashraf when he was on 21.
The cleanliness of Buttler’s strokeplay on his return to the Test side has silenced those who grumbled about his lack of redball form. With him in the side, England look more dynamic.
In recent years, Headingley has not been the venue you’d select to host an England recovery.
But the hope is that England have mended the grouting and plugged the leaks. Perhaps a bit of sensible housekeeping was all they needed.