On the plus side,
England fought back to draw that particular six-match series and it is not
unfeasible they can salvage something from this truncated rubber in 2018.
However, this week the gulf was somewhat embarrassing. Even Joe Root had to
confess his side had been second best in all three disciplines: with the bat, ball
and in the field. If England could blame unfamiliar conditions prepared by
Johnny Foreigner for their winter travails, they can hardly use the same excuse
for the pitch at HQ in May, ideal for Anderson and Broad to exploit, and Root’s
top six to show the visitors how to bat on a Bank Holiday weekend. Oops!
It went wrong right
from the first session on Thursday. Stoneman, Root and Malan were back in the pavilion
inside sixteen overs. All that criticism of Alastair Cook – too old, too slow,
too out of form, should be at three – and yet the ex-captain was he only man to
show any stickability, easily the top scorer in the first innings, with 70. I’m
sure Jos Buttler wasn’t selected as a specialist batsman at seven to come in
and shore up the lower order midway through the second session, and of course
he failed.
Mohammad Abbas and
Hasan Ali aren’t usually touted as frightening pacemen but they skilfully
showed up England’s deficiencies and bowled them out for 184. In reply, no
fewer than four Pakistani batsman passed 50, and who knows how many Babar Azam
might have scored had he not had his forearm broken by a rising ball from Ben
Stokes when well placed on 68. Nobody bowled particularly badly; they just
weren’t effective enough and Pakistan established a healthy lead of 179.
The obvious team talk
would have been to exhort all batsmen to knuckle down, play each ball on its
merits, blah-blah-blah. However, when Cook was LBW to an Abbas beauty in the
second over to stunned silence in St John’s Wood, the warnings were there one
more. Poor Mark Stoneman failed again while Joe Root did at least produce another
useful 60-odd. When he was sixth out at 110, a three-day rout looked probable.
But from such barren ground, the recalled Buttler and debutant Dom Bess – in his
first ever first-class match at Lord’s – bore fruit, developing a 125 partnership
which lasted to stumps.
Could the pair –
Somerset past and present – maintain the stand and help set Pakistan a
challenging target? Whaddya think?! Jos had added just a single before Abbas
trapped him leg-before. Seventeen balls later, England had collapsed to 242 all
out. Pakistan can be jittery when faced with an apparently straightforward
chase but, despite Azhar Ali succumbing to an Anderson gem for 4, there were no
major alarms and the job was done with some glorious strokes, including a
clubbed six by Haris Sohail off a Bess full-toss.
There’s less than a
week to regroup, reconsider and revive England’s fortunes. As for changes,
Stoneman’s axe was inevitable and his former Durham team-mate Keaton Jennings
has been in sufficiently fine early season for Lancashire to warrant a recall
as Cook’s partner. Dom Bess took no wickets but, with his West Country
colleague Jack Leach still out of action, should be in the frame again, if only
because of his useful batting. At just 20, we Somerset faithful were hoping he
would get a few good seasons to learn his craft so I hope the experience doesn’t
dent his confidence. Fortunately, it is hardly a Kerrigan-esque situation.
In a way I can see why
Ed Smith and co opted to bring back the IPL sloggers to try something more
exciting but to me it smacks of desperation. I cannot understand why some suggest
Bairstow hands the gloves to Buttler and swap roles. It would mean no change in
personnel and arguably weakening the ‘keeping. Crazy! Maybe it’s time for the
new chief selector Smith to venture outside Middlesex for a change and see who
else is out there in county cricket other than Malan, Morgan and Finn,
languishing in the second division. He may be in for a pleasant surprise.
Meanwhile, Pakistan will be licking their lips, a well-drilled outfit of
excellent young bowlers, able batsmen and enthusiastic fielders hoping to seal
a series victory at Headingley next week. It’s not beyond the realms of
possibility.
