England win in Pakistan one of their greatest ever Test victories
Pakistan legend Waqar Younis said he’d never seen a crowd like it on the fifth day of a match in Rawalpindi, and they flocked to the cricket stadium not too far from Islamabad yesterday for the crescendo of one of the great Tests in recent times – and arguably England’s greatest ever win in Asia.
Ben Stokes and Brendon McMcullum’s side announced themselves as one of the most entertaining teams during the summer but to win on the hard, unforgiving pitches in Pakistan – by 74 runs – has proclaimed this new dynasty of Test cricket one that can achieve anything.
Ambitious England
An ambitious declaration of 264-7 on Sunday, leaving Pakistan needing 343, was completely predictable if one paid attention to the words of McCullum before the series.
“There may be a time where you risk losing to win and if Pakistan are good enough to beat us, that’s cool too,” England’s head coach said.
And how right he was. To have the gumption and even the audacity to believe a win was possible with such a declaration is admirable – but it’s now a Bazball world and the rest of us are just living in it.
Pakistan favourites?
With the soon-to-be-fading light in northern Pakistan on everybody’s mind, England were closing in. When Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan and Agha Salman piled on the runs, Pakistan were slight favourites to avoid defeat at tea.
But James Anderson was sublime as always and Ollie Robinson came into his own on the road of a pitch, making the difference.
Anderson – still relentlessly banging the ball into the crease at 40 – got Rizwan, Zahid Mahmood and Haris Rauf while Robinson trapped Shakeel and Salman to leave Pakistan 264-9.
Stokes turned to Jack Leach, who was yet to take a wicket in the second innings, for inspiration and it was his angle and change of pace that got Naseem Shah stuck in his crease and out leg before wicket.
Commentators estimated it was around 10 minutes between the final wicket, the victory, and the sun setting on the final day. It was the finest of margins.
Test galore
But what a Test match and what a statement of intent from Stokes and his team.
Will Jacks was sublime: he hit 54 runs in the match and took six wickets – a five-for on debut, what a memory for the 24-year-old.
Harry Brook, too, was incredible in just his second Test. He was one of England’s four centurions in the first innings and knocked a combined 240 runs in Rawalpindi.
Four batters – Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Brook and Jacks – finished the Test match with a strike rate of over 100, while Anderson, Robinson and Jacks all took four or more wickets. Stokes and Leach shared four between them.
After what is believed to be the highest scoring first-class Test match capped to five days, it is a 1-0 lead England will take to Multan on Friday.
And based on the quality, the highs and lows, and the ultimate production of drama that this contest provided, it would be silly to miss this weekend’s crunch match.