It was almost as if they same match were played twice at Lord’s and Leeds. Only that the teams switched roles for either.
This is why one could say that England played like Pakistan and vice versa for the contests,with Lord’s seeing the visitors dominate every single department and Leeds seeing the tables turned.
England, battling the pressure of a potential third successive series loss after Australia and New Zealand, produced an all-round effort to boss around Pakistan in quintessentially English conditions at Leeds.
Interestingly, England and Pakistan both scored the same 363 in their respective innings, batting second on the tour, and won. It was a complete around for Pakistan and Mickey Arthur, too, admitted that they ‘missed a massive chance’.
Haris Sohail
The innings defeat may have added salt to the wound, but skipper Sarfraz Ahmed appears confident that he can count on the youngsters in next tours.
Injured Babar Azam, who hurt his wrist during the first game, resulting in his ouster from the tour, was immensely missed in both innings. In spite of averaging a mere 28 in Tests, Babar’s knock at Lord’s is a sign for things to come for the youngster in the longest format of the game, after already having prolific runs in limited overs cricket.
Pakistan has sunk to 7 for 79 in the first innings before Shadab Khan’s quick-fire 56. The visitors had to see off just 11 overs before lunch in the second innings but they lost three wickets, including the pricy ones of Azhar Ali, Haris Sohail and Asad Shafiq.
Joss Buttler
Sarfraz has been bearing the brunt for the middle-order’s failure to bat long and weave partnerships together. His own poor form continued with the bat with scores of 20, 8, 9, 14 and 8 in his last five innings.
Asad Shafiq, now in the role of a mainstay for the middle-order, was expected to steady the innings, but he gloved one down the leg-side off Stuart Broad.
Debutant Usman Salahuddin was the only batsman who showed some patience at the crease. His 33 off 102 depicted resilience, showing how he had learned from the first innings’ mistakes and perhaps gave a glimpse of what might come in the future.
Shadab, the top-scorer for Pakistan in the two-match series, has made a promising start to his career with the bat, prompting premature comparisons with Steve Smith. But if he continues to time the ball like he did in England, he might be due a bump up the batting order.
Sarfraz Ahmed and Joe Root
The three-day win for England wouldn’t have been possible if it weren’t for the blistering 80* by Jos Buttler. As a wicket-keeper batsman returning to the Test as a batsman, the 27-year-old scored two promising half-centuries and sealed his place in the team before India’s August tour to England.
After being dropped by Hasan Ali at 16 and continuing from 34 overnight, Buttler was surprisingly the only English batsman to score a 50. Dom Bess, who came as a nightwatchman, also found timing in his second match and scored 49.
In his last 11 balls faced, Buttler scored 35, thrashing Pakistani bowlers around the park. The tail supported him and allowed him to take the lead to 189 – 10 runs more than Pakistan’s lead at Lord’s.
This proved to be too much for Pakistan, with 144 being the highest Test lead against England that they’ve recovered to win from: Multan 2005.
Mohammad Abbas might not have expected to bag a Man of the Series award in his maiden England Town. And while he had a lot to learn of the tour, what he also has managed to do is establish himself as the number one pacer for his team in Tests.
With 11 wickets in the series, Abbas may break the record of his mentor Mohammad Asif by taking less than 10 matches to pick up 50 Test wickets. Not to mention the fact that he is currently among the top 20 bowlers in ICC rankings.
Throughout the tour, one thing has remained constant and that is Amir’s struggle to make the ball nip both ways to trouble the batsmen. And at Leeds, Pakistan weren’t able to get many edges as compared to the first encounter.
But Amir, in general, bowled quite a few wicket-taking balls. And the Amir-Abbas duo could trouble openers in their bowling partnerships to come. They picked 17 wickets together in the three England batting innings.
Neither Sarfraz nor Waqar Younis believe that the problems for Pakistan stem from opting to bat first at Leeds. But it was a blatant blunder nonetheless,even if it was sunny when Sarfraz made the call.
And it’s not just about the weather. Batting poorly, dropping catches and missing line and length cannot be blamed on nature.
Joe Root, too was blamed for making the hasty decision of batting first at Lord’s. Hence, literally everything was evened out.
Pakistan now look to a two-match T20I series against Scotland, to wrap up what has been a successful tour to the UK, despite squandering the lead at Headingley.
