Jake Ball thanked the calming influence of his Nottinghamshire team-mate Stuart Broad and his uncle, the England wicketkeeping coach Bruce French, after a first taste of Test cricket that has left the debutant convinced he can bowl at international level.
The 25-year-old was presented with his England cap by French in the huddle before sharing the new ball with Broad. His maiden Test wicket, in figures of one for 51, came in the second over after lunch when Pakistan’s Azhar Ali was trapped lbw for seven.
Ball, who had Broad stationed at mid-off and mid-on for the bulk of his 19 overs, is a relaxed cricketer by nature but admitted the pair helped to keep him level as he demonstrated, through a consistent line and pace consistently above 85mph, what many observers saw in him during an impressive start to the summer in county cricket.
“Getting my cap from Bruce settled me down,” Ball said. “He told me how proud the whole family are of me and to receive it from my uncle was an extra special moment. It was nice, he was holding back the tears. As for settling in, it was nice to have Stuart there at mid-on and off, talking me through it and keeping me calm.
“People were sending me messages the day before and the advice was to enjoy it. I took that into today and hopefully proved to people I can play Test cricket.”
Ball’s second delivery in the morning session saw him burn a review – the opener Shan Masood survived to a ball that pitched outside leg stump – and he had to wait until his second spell before Azhar was pinned in front by a yorker. The right-hander’s referral gave Ball a heart-in-mouth moment before the replay showed the ball clipping leg stump.
He said: “[The review, second ball] looked pretty close where I was. I was probably a bit caught in the moment but we all agreed and it was a bit unfortunate. Had we got that, it would have been worth it. With the wicket, I was very anxious when I first saw it – I thought it might be slipping down. To see it just clipping was a real relief.”
Ball relished the “great challenge” of bowling to the unbeaten centurion Misbah-ul-Haq, praising his ability to dead-bat the straight ball and dispatch anything loose, but admitted the 42-year-old’s celebration – saluting towards the pavilion and dropping down to do press-ups – was a new one on him.
Misbah, who resumes on 110 from 179 balls, explained it as a reference to the army boot camp in Abbottabad undergone by the team before leaving for the tour and placed the century, in his first Test innings on English soil and one which saw him become the oldest captain to reach three figures, as the best of his 10 to date.
He said: “[The press-ups were] my promise to the army guys when we did the camp before the tour. We used to do 10 push-ups every time we stepped into the ground and I promised them I would do that if I got a century. And the salute was to the Pakistan flag.
“It is a dream to play at Lord’s, especially scoring a hundred and getting my name on the honours board. I rate this innings as my top in Test cricket and I am really happy about that. When you are playing cricket you don’t think of your age. These records always are something special.”
Misbah added 148 from 40.3 overs with Asad Shafiq, the wonderfully compact right-hander who has been at one end for half of Pakistan’s last 16 century stands and met his side of the bargain with 73 from 130 balls, stroking and pulling 12 fours, before nicking off as the third of four victims for Chris Woakes late in the day.
Shafiq should not be an unknown quantity – despite the odd commentator dipping into the book of cliches and coming up with “promising youngster” – given he is 30 years old, playing his 42nd Test match and already has eight hundreds from No6, a joint record with Sir Garfield Sobers.
Misbah said: “He has been a star for us over the last four or five years. He’s missed a few hundreds and should have got one here but he is a top player at No6, scoring consistently. He’s a special player and I think in the future Pakistan will be looking to him.”
