England’s hopes resting on Pope ‘doing a Root’
WHEN you have garnered a hard-earned reputation as slow starters in series, having lost the last five in a row and eight in 10, Pakistan are perhaps the very worst opponents to come up against.
Last night, as the tourists ran amok, England learned the hard way — just as they did in 2016 and 2018, when Pakistan’s bowlers took them to victory at Lord’s, which set up drawn series. Each time the bowlers are different, but the threat never changes: the variation of their angles of attack make them hard to get used to. An “attack” is exactly what it is: no defence, all-out attack.
They start with Shaheen Shah Afridi’s rapid left-arm swing and Mohammad Abbas’s right-arm nibble that was yesterday pedestrian enough for their outstanding keeper Mohammad Rizwan to stand up to the stumps, yet devious enough to jag one past Ben Stokes for his first duck in 19 months. Then comes the pace of 17-year-old Naseem Shah and the first of the leggies, Yasir Shah. The other, Shadab Khan, should get a go today. All this will make Pakistan rather more difficult to turn around another sluggish England start. Rory Burns and Dom Sibley, playing Pakistan for the first time, both fell to magical new-ball bowling, but will have to learn fast.
The cliche goes that Root comes in and the next time you look at the scoreboard, without noticing, he has 20 runs from as many balls with his brand of impudent accumulation and strike rotation. Yesterday was very different. He took 22 balls to get off the mark and was on one from 36. Only as Yasir took a while to settle could he turn the strike over but, having done so much hard work, Root got greedy and was caught behind cutting. He had 14 off 58 balls, to go with first-innings scores of 23 and 17 against West Indies. Both those innings had a careless end.
Following a poor afternoon of captaincy, where he bowled himself before any of his four quicks, allowing centurion Shan Masood and Shadab to get their eye in before the new ball, then asked Chris Woakes rather than Jofra Archer to bowl a barrage of bumpers, that dismissal capped a pretty desperate day for the skipper. He could do with an extra batsman, Zak Crawley, in his side next week.
The contrast with Ollie Pope, who did a fine impression of Root, was stark. He did ghost to 30 from 37 balls and found gaps that Root could not. There were perhaps moments of over-aggression, such as when he edged through gully the ball after a beautiful four off Naseem. But he was the only England batsman who looked remotely settled, and hopes rest with the 22-year-old today.
Alongside him overnight was Jos Buttler, a man playing for his own future but also perhaps even the reputation of national selector Ed Smith, who has backed his wicketkeeper-batsman so vehemently.
After a strong Third Test against West Indies, Buttler had a torrid time behind the stumps, missing three simple enough chances off Dom Bess. England like Buttler’s character and believe he could thrive in Australia in 15 months’ time, so are still picking a player who turns 30 next month and has one century in 45 matches, on potential. The oddity is that before they go to Australia, they play at least five matches on the subcontinent, where keeping to spin is key, and Buttler is a keeper who has never recorded a stumping in Tests.
Jonny Bairstow will play for Yorkshire this weekend and Ben Foakes remains an exemplary alternative. With a long tail beyond him, Buttler needs runs for himself and the team.