Stuart Broad may have taken more than 500 Test wickets, yet he could not escape his father’s official reprimand. Chris Broad, the ICC Match Referee for ongoing England versus Pakistan Test series, docked his son 15% of his match fee in the first Test for using “inappropriate language” after dismissing Yasir Shah. England would not mind that too much though as the hosts went on to win the match by 3 wickets, after conceding a 107 run lead in the first innings.
Though they emerged victorious at Manchester, England cannot afford to gloss over their problems. The openers have looked brittle in the two recent home series, and more is expected from Burns and Sibley. In the middle order, Jos Buttler did come up with an attacking 75 with the bat in the second innings, but his glove-work hasn’t been the best behind the stumps and that needs to improve.
James Anderson has been blowing hot and cold, with just 1 wicket in the first Test. He may be just 10 wickets away from reaching 600- Test wickets, England may well replace him with Mark Wood or pacer Ollie Robinson from Sussex, who has been added to the squad.
But the biggest blow to the hosts has come in the form of all-rounder Ben Stokes, who will miss the remaining two tests of the series to return to New Zealand to be with his ailing father Gerard Stokes. “Ged” is a former New Zealand rugby player who is now in Christchurch.
The problem for England is that Stokes’ current form with the bat, ball, or in the field, makes him simply irreplaceable! He can hold his own in any team purely as a batsman or a bowler, and that allows England the luxury of having 6 frontline bowling options.
But his absence will force the hosts to possibly bring in a specialist batsman like Zac Crawley to strengthen the batting, with Archer, Broad, Woakes, Bess and Wood/Robinson to manage duties in the bowling department.
For Pakistan, it’s the all too familiar story of not knowing which team will turn up to the ground on a given day — world beaters or the lackadaisical.
A positive decision to bat first on a dry wicket and playing two spinners who could be the most effective bowling in the last innings of the Test, Pakistan did their job in the 1st innings by posting 326 and then bundling out England for just 219. With a 107 run lead, what followed was a batting debacle and then indecisive captaincy from the visitors, as England wrested a win from the jaws of defeat.
Taking stock of the situation in the Pakistan camp, Shan Masood looks very promising and the young opener has now notched up hundreds in the last 3 tests versus Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and now England. Babar Azam is a class act and these two will continue to be the fulcrum around which the Pakistan batting will revolve. There may be a case to include Fawad Alam in the XI as well.
In Mohammad Rizwan, the visitors have found a very capable wicketkeeper who can chip in with valuable runs. The young Shaheen Afridi and the accurate Mohammad Abbas have the pace and movement to trouble England. Yasir Shah will remain the spin king in the pack, but the visitors may think about playing an extra pacer at Southampton, instead of 2 spinners.
Unlike most countries from the subcontinent, Pakistan has shown the ability to start a Test series well when they tour England. They had won the opening test when they toured England in 2016 and again in 2018. Despite being ahead, they drew both series- 2-2 in 2016, and 1-1 two years ago.
They had their chance to get off to a winning start their time around as well, but now have to play catch up at Southampton to keep the series alive.
The writer is a sports broadcaster and cricket commentator who has worked on assignments for leading sports networks in India and abroad.
