Sport

Pakistan blow away woeful England to seal crushing victory at Lord’s

England collapse sets up nine-wicket defeat in first Test

Imam-ul-Haq of Pakistan celebrates winning the first Test match against England at Lord’s. Photograph: Gareth Copley/Getty Images

Vic Marks at Lord's
Sun May 27 2018 - 14:02

England 184 and 242; Pakistan 363 and 66-1 – Pakistan won by 9 wkts

After that little oasis of serenity on Saturday evening, England reverted to type at Lord’s on Sunday and in the space of 25 minutes wild hopefulness gave way to grim haplessness as their second innings subsided from 235-6 to 242 all out.

No one was predicting an England victory overnight but it was reasonable to expect that the rearguard action might still be in operation at noon and that they could head to Leeds later this week with something to savour.

Instead they will head north, humbled and humiliated, with their confidence in shreds having been thrashed on their own patch at headquarters by a side ranked seventh in the world, two places below them – though that will change if England perform as ineptly at Headingley.

READ MORE

Pakistan won by nine wickets; they performed superbly but unspectacularly like solid old pros who understand the conditions precisely. And they are supposed to be the callow side. They bowled full and straight and let the ball swing and seam a little; they batted with grit and patience and they caught their catches and that was more than enough to overwhelm an England team in some disarray.

The England collapse on Sunday morning was numbing. Jos Buttler had batted with great authority on Saturday but in the second over he pushed forward to Mohammad Abbas and was struck on the pad. He reviewed but with no great optimism.

Then the new ball polished off the rest at a rush. Mark Wood and Stuart Broad were both caught behind and last man out Dom Bess lost his off-stump. Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Abbas were in clover, sharing four wickets each.

In pursuit of the 64 runs needed to win Pakistan lost Azhar Ali to a fine delivery from Jimmy Anderson. Thereafter there were few alarms, though, unlike the first innings, Bess made several deliveries turn but in a hopeless situation he was nowhere near accurate enough to exploit the rough developing outside the left-handers' off-stump.

Rather than inform us about the long-term prospects of Bess excelling at this level this simply demonstrated what an excellent cricket pitch had been provided at Lord’s, even though England had been woefully unable to exploit its properties. It seamed at the start; it flattened out and if we had reached the fifth day it would have spun. But England were utterly incapable of making the game last that long. - Guardian service

LATEST STORIES