Thursday 26 / December / 2024
London: Pakistan foiled a gutsy England run chase to win a gripping first Test by 75 runs at Lord's on Sunday.
Having set the hosts a 283 victory target after their second innings was ended on 215 in the morning, Pakistan's bowlers, led by leg spinner Yasir Shah, provided a masterclass to bowl England out for 207.
Mohammed Amir, back from a five-year ban for spot-fixing, sealed victory when he clean bowled Jake Ball.
England had never chased down such a total at Lord's and when Jonny Bairstow was still at the crease they appeared to still have a chance but he was undone by Yasir Shah when he was two short of his half century.
The end was nigh after that as the final three wickets went down for 12 runs.
Pakistan's players celebrated victory by doing press-ups in front of their jubilant supporters.
"It is one of the top wins as captain and for Pakistan as a team," captain Misbah-ul Haq said.
"I am very proud of the team and the way they came out and showed really good skills.
"Today, mentally everybody was strong, and were patient. Everyone bowled well, especially Yasir Shah."
England began the chase confidently with Alastair Cook striking a boundary off his first ball, but the skipper was dispatched after he stabbed at Rahat Ali's delivery and was caught by Sarfraz Ahmed.
Alex Hales soon followed his captain to the pavilion after top-edging Rahat to Mohammed Hafeez before Rahat removed dangerman Joe Root for nine after he played a careless pull shot and was caught in the deep by Yasir.
James Vince (42) and Gary Ballance (43) chipped away at Pakistan's lead with valuable contributions but Vince got a thick edge driving Wahab Riaz and was caught at the second attempt by Younis at second slip.
Ballance had just struck Yasir confidently to the boundary when he was bowled by a beauty, the ball jagging back from outside off stump after pitching in the rough.
Moeen Ali hardly helped England's cause, dismissed for two when he charged at a Yasir delivery and was bowled to leave England on 139 for 6.
Bairstow and Chris Woakes stemmed the flow of wickets and kept the scoreboard ticking during a tense afternoon but England eventually succumbed to Pakistan's relentless attack.
Stuart Broad misjudged one from left-hander and was bowled for one, then and was dismissed as he looked for a second run.
Shah took his 10th wicket in the match when Woakes was caught by Younis Khan before Amir finished it off.
Earlier England quickly polished off Pakistan's second innings with the visitors adding only eight runs to their overnight total.
Wicketkeeper Bairstow had faced criticism on Saturday, but he got rid of Shah (30) with an athletic one-handed catch in the first over as Broad became the third English bowler to take 350 test wickets.
Broad then had Amir caught behind.
SCOREBOARD
Pakistan 1st Innings: 339
England 1st Innings: 272
Pakistan 2nd Innings:
M. Hafeez c Root b Broad 0
S. Masood c Cook b Woakes 24
A. Ali lbw b Woakes 23
Y. Khan b Ali 25
Misbah c Hales b Ali 0
A. Shafiq b Woakes 49
S. Ahmed c Bairstow b Woakes 45
Y. Shah c Bairstow b Broad 30
W. Riaz c Bairstow b Woakes 0
M. Amir c Bairstow b Broad 1
R. Ali not out 0
Extras (b-6, lb-11, nb-1) 18
Total (all out, 79.1 overs, 353 mins) 215
Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-44, 3-59, 4-60, 5-129, 6-168, 7-208, 8-214, 9-214
Bowling: Broad 19.1-7-38-3, Ball 16-7-37-0, Finn 13-4-42-0, Woakes 18-6-32-5, Ali 13-3-49-2
England 2nd Innings (target 283)
A. Cook c Sarfraz b R. Ali 8
A. Hales c Hafeez b R. Ali 16
J. Root c Y. Shah b R. Ali 9
J. Vince c Y. Khan b W. Riaz 42
G. Ballance b Y. Shah 43
J. Bairstow b Y. Shah 48
M. Ali b Y. Shah 2
C. Woakes c Y. Khan b Y. Shah 23
S. Broad b M. Amir 1
S. Finn not out 4
J. Ball b M. Amir 3
Extras (b-1, lb-5, w-1, nb-1) 8
Total (all out, 75.5 overs, 346 mins) 207
Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-32,3-47, 4-96, 5-135, 6-139, 7-195, 8-196, 9-204
Bowling: Amir 17.5-4-39-2, Rahat 14-0-47-3, Shah 31-9-69-4; Riaz 13-1-46-1.
Umpires: K. Dharmasena, Joel Wilson
TV umpire: Rod Tucker
Match referee: Richie Richardson
Result: Pakistan won by 75 runs
