England v Pakistan, 2nd Test, Day 2: Déjà Vu from 2014?

 

England v Pakistan

2^nd Test

Day 2: Déjà Vu from 2014?

 July 23^rd  2016

The advantage of going on holiday for a week to a remote area of Northern Spain with no Internet was that the horribly inevitable spiral of England to defeat in the 1^st Test was limited to score updates on my smartphone. England were simply outplayed in every department and seemed to be carrying at least four passengers in their side and even then, briefly on the final day, suggested that they could win.

The response of the selectors has been to recall Stokes and Anderson, logically enough and, more unexpectedly, to call up Adil Rashid, but then disappoint by leaving him out on the morning when the adventurous option would have been to take in two seamers. Adil Rashid is no destroyer, but would add options to the attack and his form for England in the short forms of the game must have boosted his confidence enormously. It could be that the selectors are worried that they would be exposed if Anderson or Stokes were to break down, but the logical option was to play all four seamers as two are good batsmen too.

To no one’s great surprise, Jake Ball has been returned to Nottinghamshire and Toby Roland-Jones to England Lions duty. The rise of Chris Woakes has also meant that the selectors took the bull by the horns and released Steve Finn early (translation: he was never under serious consideration to play). Steve Finn’s travails since Graeme Smith decided, in 2012, that his occasional habit of knocking off the bails in his delivery constituted a grave distraction and thus managed to change the laws to eliminate this menace from the game, have been well documented. Steve Finn bowled like a demon in South Africa in the absence of Jimmy Anderson, but has since not looked like taking Test wickets. Of course, Finn responded with a display of real pace and menace in Middlesex’s T20 win against Hampshire after being released by England. Why he can look like a world-class pace bowler one night for Middlesex and like a county fourth seamer for England the week before, is one of those mysteries of cricket.

At Lord’s, Pakistan batted and made what, ultimately, was a match-winning total. The big difference between the sides was Misbah converting a start into a century – something that no England batsman could do – and the bowling of Yasir Shah, sticking to basics and making batsman after batsman commit suicide. This time though, it was Alistair Cook who won the Toss. And this time England made it count on a benign pitch against a friendly attack.

That England’s batting effort was not another disaster was down to Cook and Root getting stuck in and getting support from the lower middle order. Joe Root’s prodigious innings made up for another alarming failure from Alex Hales and another brief but pretty innings from James Vince, who has added yet another low score to his list of Test innings.

Vince’s sequence of scores – 9, 35, 10, 0, 16, 42, 18 – is starting to get seriously worrying. You can argue that Alex Hales had a similarly rocky start before coming good, but Hales at least had the consolation of a 50 against a much better attack than those that Vince has faced. The betting is that James Vince will get the 3^rd Test to make a score and then will make way for his replacement for the tour of India if he cannot. The beauty of Vince’s batting is making the pundit’s purr… as long as it lasts, which has generally been all too briefly before he gives it away. Alex Hales is a different problem. He made three important scores against Sri Lanka and has a string of ODI 50s and 100s since the South Africa Test series ended; Pakistan though are presenting him with a new problem that he is, at present, unable to solve. Hales though needs a score quickly to silence any premature chat about dropping him.

The England innings gave ammunition to those who have suggested that England’s batting is Root, Cook and nine honest triers. It ignores the fact that of Root’s six previous Test innings this summer, four have been not so commendably brief – dismissed in single figures – yet England have been winning, at least until the Lord’s Test. Even at Lord’s, after a Root failure that left the side 47-3 and sinking fast, there were times, particularly as Bairstow and Woakes crafted a careful 50 partnership, when Pakistan must have started to worry a little.

One of the problems at Lord’s was clusters of wickets falling, giving Pakistan momentum at critical moments. Here though, until the final slog that led to the declaration, there was no partnership smaller than the 25 that Hales and Cook put on together and no single-figure score. Even when a wicket fell, there was no great encouragement for the bowlers as the next man settled in. To score 589-8 at almost 4-an-over has made a major point, as have Yasir Shah’s figures of 54-6-231-1: the most expensive bowler apart from Wahab Riaz, unable to tie down an end or to take wickets. Pakistan’s Plan A was Yasir Shah. Their Plan B seemed to be abject surrender.

Sir Geoffrey talked about scoreboard pressure playing tricks on batsman, knowing that they were playing for a draw at best, but even then there was no excuse for what followed, particularly as the new ball attack was seen off comfortably. However, like Australia in the late 1970s and early 1980s, who had the holy terrors every time that Ian Botham took the ball – only he could induce batsmen to give their wickets away to the most innocent deliveries – Chris Woakes seems to be having the same effect on Asians in general. He only took more than one wicket in a match once in his first six Tests but, against Pakistan and Sri Lanka this summer, has 22 in just over 3 Tests at 12.3. None of his wicket-taking deliveries was particularly lethal, but Pakistani eyes lit-up and offered themselves as willing victims.

Pakistan have done what England did at Lord’s. So far their partnerships are 27, 16, 5, 5 & 4*. When a wicket falls, another has fallen quickly, giving the bowlers even more encouragement. It makes fatigue disappear as the bowler’s spell extends. It convinces the batsmen to come that there are non-existent demons in the pitch. And, if you follow social media, it convinces fans of the opposition that the pitch was specially prepared to disintegrate as soon as England declared (a mind game that almost always backfires on their own side, by creating a bunker mindset where everything is conspiring against you)!

Day 3 offers cloud, possibly some rain and favourable bowling conditions. It will be an almighty effort to take 16 more Pakistan wickets on what remains a very good batting surface but were Misbah to fall early, Pakistan could just fold.

It all gives a sense of déjà vu from 2014. Then, Sri Lanka were the first visitors and India the main course that England were expected to digest with some ease. Yes, we talked about how skilful the Indians seamers were, but they were not expected to be good enough to overcome England. India sent shockwaves through the country when they won the 1^st Test at a canter before suddenly falling apart. Are we seeing Pakistan do the same?