ENG vs PAK, 1st Test, Day 1 Review: Pakistan dominates the proceedings; Hosts stutter with the bat

It has been one of the most enthralling days for Pakistan cricket in recent times as they’ve managed to outwit the gritty English contingent on their home soil, that too in a very commanding way. If ever they had dreamt of a perfect start to the Test series, this has to be the one.

Batting first, the English side found it really difficult to cope with the quality of the Pakistani fast bowlers. The newbie Hasan Ali and Mohammad Abbas made their life miserable with some great rendition of pace bowling, whilst Mohammad Amir too pulled off a brilliant performance.

It all started with the wicket of Mark Stoneman, who yet again registered a paltry score at the top. He was castled by the pace of Abbas and it didn’t take an awful lot of time for the visitors to remove skipper Joe Root. Hasan Ali got the big fish and he followed it up with the wicket of Dawid Malan almost immediately.

In this precarious situation, the monk Alastair Cook started batting in a way which personified his sobriquet. He remained calm under pressure and collected runs very carefully alongside Jonny Bairstow. The duo looked solid in the middle and England was heading to a decent total.

But Jonny Bairstow was sent back by Faheem Ashraf at a very wrong time from an English perspective. The duo added 57 runs for the 4th wicket. Ben Stokes, who clearly seems a bit under-confident after his return got some quick runs and helped his senior man Alastair Cook get a fifty. Another decent partnership started between these two players, but an unexpected collapse stunned the home crowd.

Bowlers lit up the stage with their pyrotechnics

Talk about great bowling sides and Pakistan would be right up there, as they’ve been producing world-class speedsters for a long time. Once again, it was their fast bowlers who managed to destroy the English side at the home of cricket. England looked in a decent position with Cook and Stokes in the middle, but things didn’t take a long time to turn around.

Wickets started tumbling like a pack of cards. Alastair Cook, who clearly was lining himself up for a big individual score, got out to the class of Mohammad Amir. A fact that Amir got through his defense and cleaned up his stumps when he was batting beautifully speaks volumes of the calibre of this bowler.

Jos Buttler got a quickfire start and his stay at the crease too was quite short. Stokes and Buttler fell in a span of 3 balls to push their side into further trouble, with the scorecard reading 168/7. Mohammad Abbas and Hasan cleaned up the tail ferociously and England got bowled out for 184 runs in 58.2 overs.

Hasan Ali returned with figures of 4/51 whilst the star of the day for Pakistan, Mohamad Abbas registered numbers of 4/23. Faheem Ashraf and Mohammad Amir picked a wicket each and those two were pretty important scalps.

Azhar Ali holds the fort for his side

The English bowling contingent was not going to make things any easy for Pakistan. They were right on the money right from the outset, making the visitors work hard for every run. Stuart Broad managed to scalp the first wicket, sending Imam-ul-Haq back very early.

But Haris Sohail and Azhar Ali stood firm and didn’t abide by taking any risks. Pakistan finished day 1 at 50/1 in 23 overs, with Haris Sohail batting on 21 and Azhar Ali batting on 18. On the second day, they’ll clearly target a lead in excess of 150.

Brief Scores

England first innings: 184 all out in 58.2 overs (Alastair Cook 70; Mohammad Abbas 4/23, Hasan Ali 4/51)

Pakistan first innings: 50/1 in 23 overs (Haris Sohail 21*, Azhar Ali 18*)

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