Moving day at Lord’s. In fact the movement was often imperceptible as the game sometimes proceeded at a 20th century pace. Wary batsmen gleaned their runs at under three per over. But movement there was. Eleven wickets fell, five of them to the irrepressible Chris Woakes and one side will be celebrating victory before Monday evening. The beauty of it is that we are not quite sure which one it will be.
This is when the cricket can be compelling even if there is not a six in sight, although Misbah-ul-Haq did his best to become the first man to clear the boundary in this Test during his brief and barren innings; the runs may be trickling but every boundary and most certainly every wicket changes the balance of the game deliciously. By the close Pakistan were 214 for eight, a lead of 281, already a substantial target, which was once achieved here by England in 2004 against New Zealand.
This pitch is not quite so benign as 12 years ago.
The Pakistan batsmen had to battle hard to get their runs especially when Woakes had the ball in his hand. The Brummie Botham, as we shall try never to describe him again, took five more wickets, to give him 11 in the match. Once again he was England’s most potent bowler cruising up to the crease, never straining for rhythm and pace. England will be rejuggling their attack for Old Trafford with the return of Jimmy Anderson and Ben Stokes. But Woakes will definitely be there. Now his name is written on to the teamsheet in ink before just about everybody else.
Woakes was the best of an impressive bunch. On a slow yet taxing surface no batsman could dominate; Younis Khan, after 135 minutes of feverish application, could only muster 25 runs. Asad Shafiq was the day’s highest scorer with 49.
Perhaps the blossoming Woakes would have surpassed that in the morning but he soon ran out of partners when England resumed their innings. He could only look on in frustration as three English batsmen departed in swift succession with just 19 runs added to the overnight score.
Stuart Broad, the recipient of several softening-up bouncers from Wahab Riaz, was soon castled by a fine reverse-swinging yorker. Steven Finn then became Yasir Shah’s fourth lbw victim, enabling the bowler to finish with the first six-wicket haul by a wrist-spinner in a Lord’s Test since Walter Robins took six for 32 against the West Indies in 1933. Soon after Jake Ball was run out in a vain attempt to give Woakes the strike.
So the deficit for England was an ominously large 67 and their bowlers responded in the most disciplined manner. There were few free runs out there, certainly not for Mohammed Hafeez who waved airily in Broad’s second over to present Joe Root with a sharp slip catch.
Shan Masood, the sort of batsman one would be reluctant to waste a review upon, battled for 8 overs for 24, whereupon Woakes found an outside edge which just carried to Alastair Cook at first slip. Soon Azhar Ali was lbw to Woakes after which there was an unusual little innings from Misbah.
We witnessed the pattern of Misbah’s batting in the first innings, blocking the seamers and slogging the spinners. In microcosm he stuck rigidly to this plan on Saturday. He disdained to play at his first delivery from Woakes. Then he took guard against Moeen Ali. He launched at his first ball from the spinner. The intention, no doubt, to smash the ball over mid-on since Misbah is good at that. Instead he dragged his drive and Alex Hales on the deep mid-wicket boundary took a fine running catch. This time any press-ups were confined to the dressing room.
From 60 for four Younis Khan became ever more circumspect, yet seldom dull. He is never still even when playing defensively, his back leg forever pirouetting after completing his shot. It was as if he was batting on hot coals – with a bat that had been manufactured in the previous century. It appeared to have a sweet spot of very modest size. It took him 51 deliveries to find the boundary and that came about accidentally when the ball sped down to third man off an outside edge.
Yet Younis’ contribution was important when Pakistan were tottering. In the end he was bowled off the inside edge when attempting to cut an off-break from Moeen. By then his partnership with Shafiq had produced 69 vital runs.
Shafiq was more fluent until he was bowled through the gate by Woakes. But now England were stalled again partly due their own mistakes. Yasir Shah, shrewdly promoted to No8, a rise of two places, might have been caught at mid-off against the unfortunate Finn. Less forgivably Jonny Bairstow spilled a more straightforward edge from Sarfraz Ahmed on 36. After Sarfraz’s drive the ball barely touched the gloves of Bairstow; instead there may be a bruise on his right wrist.
Currently the wicketkeeping conundrum is complicated by Jos Buttler’s injury, which may help Bairstow’s retention of the gloves. Once again Finn, so desperate for a wicket, was the bowler.
His final spell of the day was his best of the match and his unluckiest. He might easily have been given an lbw against Shah. Instead this pair defiantly added 40 runs with the impish Sarfraz frustrating England and firing up his partner in equal measure. Then in the final 10 minutes Woakes struck twice more removing Sarfraz and Wahab Riaz in consecutive overs. Game on.
