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Brook and Root set tone
Harry Brook punished Pakistan for dropping him at the start of his innings with a quickfire 91 as England strengthened their grip on the first Test at Headingley.
“Harry Brook has punished Pakistan for dropping him at the start of his innings with a quickfire 91”
England were 366-8 at stumps on a rain-marred second day on Thursday, 195 runs ahead of Pakistan’s meagre first innings of 171.
The only sadness for the crowd was that neither of their local Yorkshire heroes were able to post a century, with skipper Joe Root out for 66 before Brook fell late in the day.
Brook faced 93 balls and hit 13 fours, and after the ball hit his leg before rattling the stumps he was out in the 90s for the second time at Headingley.
Pakistan’s all-pace attack was led by Ali Usman, who finished with 5-92 in 23 overs and took a maiden five-wicket haul in Test cricket in just his third match.
England win by innings
England wrapped up an innings win over Pakistan inside three days in the first Test at Headingley, dismissing Pakistan for 135 in 37.3 overs before tea.
England won by an innings and 103 runs for a 1-0 lead in the three-match series, with Joe Root saying, "Brilliant performance".
Root also said, "You look at the prep we had leading in, coming straight from the Hundred," as England’s seamers pestered Pakistan at a fuller length.
Jofra Archer removed the openers with the new ball, Ollie Robinson took three more wickets, and Josh Tongue was introduced after lunch to take three wickets averaging 143 kph (89 mph).
Robinson and Tongue each took eight wickets in the match, and Robinson was named player of the match for his 8-80 compared to Tongue’s 8-89.
Pakistan’s next challenge
Pakistan’s heavy defeat left them facing a quick turnaround, with the second Test starting at Lord’s on Thursday and stand-in skipper Salman Agha laughing he was "more than happy" to hand the captaincy back to Babar Azam.
“"more than happy" to hand the captaincy back to Babar Azam”
Former England captain Michael Vaughan told BBC Test Match Special that he "really fears" for Pakistan and felt "quite sad" watching their heavy defeat by England in the first Test at Headingley.
Vaughan said, "They've been absolutely blown away," and added, "They've been hammered," as he argued Pakistan’s tactical side and skill level were lacking.
Pakistan were also dealing with leadership and availability issues, with Babar Azam ruled out of the first Test because of a hand injury and Pakistan coach Sarfaraz Ahmed saying, "Salman Agha will be the captain for the first test."
The next match at Lord’s is framed as a chance to turn things around, with Agha saying, "We need to flush this game out and turn it around at Lord's."