It is never a bad idea to be generous to opponents in victory or defeat. Magnanimity never did anyone any harm. So there is something incongruous about victory celebrations, particularly if they are contrived. Alastair Cook, though, was surely wrong to label the Pakistan post-match formation press-up display as disrespectful, given that far from jibing the vanquished in the first Test they were acknowledging the part played by those back home in the preparation of a genuine team from the chaotic rubble that preceded Misbah-ul-Haq’s time in charge. No Pakistan team have prepared for a tour as diligently and physically hard as this one: there is nothing wrong in fulfilling a promise.
However, teams have to be careful what they wish for. If Australia needed any extra reason to go for the jugular on England’s next visit after their memorable success in 2010-11, it was the sight of the Sprinkler dance being paraded round the perimeter of the MCG. Urinating on The Oval pitch two summers later was not too clever either, although by then it was dark, drink would have been consumed and a frat-house mentality taken over. All these things linger though, and looking down from the balcony at Lord’s, England will have been stung by the display.
What ought to smart more is the manner in which they were outplayed. On a pitch that delivered more than it promised when the opening delivery slunk through at ankle height, England bowled well enough overall to take 20 Pakistan wickets for 554. The batting though, so reliant on Cook, Joe Root and to an extent Jonny Bairstow now, had neither the skill nor nous to counter the four-man Pakistan attack who bowled as a tight-knit unit, so that the only freedom England had was when Cook and Root were together in the first innings and, benefitting from some Pakistan benevolence in the field, cracking along nicely.
Misbah handled his attack superbly: Rahat Ali proved a dangerous new-ball bowler who operated behind the smokescreen of publicity generated by the return of Mohammad Amir, and Wahab Riaz’s volatility. Amir took a while to settle back into Test cricket but by the end was coming nicely to the boil. Wahab produced a scintillating display of reverse swing that no one else was able to match (there is more to reverse than simply preparing the ball) and Yasir Shah spun himself off his feet first in support and then as a dagger to the heart. He has taken over Jimmy Anderson’s spot at the top of the ICC Test bowling rankings, Anderson dropping to third, a bizarre state of affairs given Ravi Ashwin, who overtakes him, has not played a Test since December and Anderson was performing for Lancashire.
Naturally, the general response to the nature of this defeat is to call for the dismantling of the bowling attack, with the exception of Chris Woakes and Stuart Broad, and retain the batsmen in the name of continuity. Sometimes the logic defies belief.
A more reasoned assessment might say Woakes had an outstanding match, his bowling the best suited to the conditions that demanded skiddy pace rather than that from tall, back-of-a-length bowlers. Broad was indifferent, Jake Ball made a decent if unspectacular start and Steven Finn was much maligned, putting in a heavy spell in the first innings and a superb one from the Nursery end in the second. His method has always been fragile but he is a prodigious wicket-taker going through a lean spell (Woakes could not buy a wicket last winter). Fewer bandwagon comments about his lack of rhythm and so forth may not go amiss: he is OK.
Hard to comprehend maybe but there was little more Moeen Ali could have done with the ball. In the first innings he scarcely bowled a ball to Misbah that was off line or length but the batsman shredded him with his sweeps. His bowling was not at fault but perhaps more could be done with field placing (although that can be precarious, with the option for the batsman to hit the ball elsewhere instead). In the second innings he dismissed Misbah with the first ball he bowled him and removed their other top batsman besides. Of his batting, there is little to say except he was mightily unlucky with the umpire’s interpretation of geometry in the first innings and had a meltdown in the second.
England’s batting did not have the depth to cope. Cook and Root are high class, although twice Root’s carelessness cost him at a time when he was making the game look easy. Alex Hales is, I believe, learning the role and worth persevering with.
Gary Ballance at least showed he has a game plan, has decided to address his technical problem by standing a little out of his crease, and had an air of dependability. As Graham Gooch is fond of saying, there is a difference between scoring runs and making them and Ballance at least understands how to do the latter.
Not so James Vince, who is pleasing on the eye as all offside batsmen are when they play their cover drives but his second innings chart was instructive with not a single run scored between square leg and mid off. Pakistan recognise his game is an offside one, and feed it, knowing he appears not to have the application to ignore their line and make them come to him.
The omission of Ben Stokes, a proven quality Test batsman even without his bowling, was bewildering: he is a considerably better player than Vince and there is no reason why as an all-rounder he could not bat at five given Jacques Kallis played over 160 Tests batting in the top five in almost all of them. Both Stokes and Anderson are a welcome return for the second Test that starts on Friday at Old Trafford.
