Oval heartache
Chris Stocks looks at what went wrong for England
ENGLAND came into this final Test knowing they had a chance to become No.1 in the world but ended it ruing the problems that have dogged them for the past 18 months and more – fragile batting, dropped catches and the lack of a world-class spinner.
Credit must first go to Pakistan. They helped produce the most closely-fought series in England since the 2005 Ashes.
Misbah-ul-Haq and his team, if results go their way, are the ones who now have chance of being ranked the No.1 Test team.
That would be some achievement considering they play all of their matches away from home due to security concerns and that this was their first series outside Asia for six years.
They fought brilliantly and, after Younus Khan’s peerless double hundred – his fifth in Tests – and leg-spinner Yasir Shah’s return to the form that earned him 10 wickets in the series opener at Lord’s, they were deserved winners by an emphatic 10-wicket margin inside four days.
England, though, will curse the errors that undermined their hopes of a 3-1 series win.
Captain Alastair Cook’s decision to bat first after winning the toss was questionable.Yet the way England wilted across both innings – Alex Hales, James Vince and Gary Ballance all failing again – cost them this match.
Moeen’s Ali’s fine hundred helped his side post 328 batting first. Jonny Bairstow, ending a productive summer as he started it, then briefly revived the second innings with a fighting 81.
Yet that pair were unable to repair the damage done by those above them in the order after failures for Cook and Joe Root left the lightweight top five brutally exposed.
Hales, Vince and Ballance – numbers two, four and five – could, and probably should, all be dropped for the winter series in Bangladesh and India.
But wholesale changes are not taken lightly and may not be possible without massive disruption. However, even if Hales survives, Vince and Ballance have to go.
Bring in Jos Buttler, Tom Westley or Ian Bell – in fact anyone. Surely they cannot do any worse.
The four dropped catches in Pakistan’s first innings – taking the home side’s tally for the series to 15 – compounded England’s batting failures, as did the inability of Moeen’s off-spin to impact the game as Yasir did in taking five second-innings wickets.
Cook admitted: “We’ve given everyone a pretty fair go. For a batter, our currency is runs – and as a top order, we haven’t consistently been doing it.
“We’re still the same side who beat Australia last summer and won away in South Africa, so it’s not all doom and gloom. We’re a work in progress.
“The catching is a concern – when we’ve won games we’ve caught our catches, when we’ve lost we’ve dropped our catches. We’ve definitely dropped in standard this series.”
Coach Trevor Bayliss followed a similar theme. “We’ve been inconsistent,” said the Australian. “We’re still looking for consistent contributions from some of the middle-order, spin bowling obviously [is a concern] and possibly taking wickets on flat pitches, which obviously spin plays a big part in that.”
A Sub-continental winter is not what England will relish then. But
will Hales, Vince and Ballance go?
“They’ve definitely had a decent run at it,” said Bayliss. “We’ve probably got around a month before we get together and discuss the next Test series so there will be some tough decisions to be made.”
For Misbah, 42, this victory, sealed on Pakistan’s Independence Day, was a proud moment.
“It was special,” he said. “Keeping in mind it was Independence Day it was something special to draw the series here after being 2-1 down, losing the second and third Tests badly. But the way the team fought back, I’m a really happy captain.”
Does his team deserve to be crowned No.1 in the world – something that will happen if India fail to win their final Test in the West Indies?
“I think so,” said Misbah. “This team deserves that for six years of no cricket at home. Sometimes people think it’s easy – the UAE suits us, we win – but just playing every day away from our country, without family and friends, it’s really difficult.
“It’s mentally tough – I only see my mother and sister once a year, some friends every three or four years. We’re always out of the country. It’s not easy but the team is winning, playing competitive cricket and I’m really proud of them.”