Pakistan tighten grip on first Test against England despite Ben Stokes' best efforts
Not-out pair Shadab Khan and Faheem Ashraf took the tourists to 300 for five - a lead of 116 following England's travails with the bat
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Your support makes all the difference.The sight of Ben Stokes back to his very best with the ball was at least one good news story England could cling to.
Unfortunately the talismanic all-rounder’s best wasn’t enough to prevent a determined Pakistan from tightening their grip on this first Test at Lord’s.
Indeed, England’s bowlers couldn't quite do enough on this second day to dismiss Pakistan despite cloudy conditions that were tailor-made for swing and seam.
By stumps the tourists, on 350-8, had what appeared a match-winning first-innings lead of 166.
Two of the seven wickets that fell came thanks to an inspired spell of 2-9 in five overs from Stokes before tea.
He also forced Babar Azam to retire hurt on 68 in the final session after striking the Pakistan batsman on the left wrist.
This was the best Stokes has bowled since he was readmitted to the England set-up following his arrest in Bristol back in September.
That incident forced him to miss last winter’s Ashes and will see him stand trial later this summer on a charge of affray.
However, in terms of cricket he appears focussed and free from the back complaint that restricted his bowling when he returned to the England team for the tour of New Zealand earlier this year.
It’s a shame the rest of his team-mates don’t appear as committed or determined as Stokes, who captain Joe Root admitted earlier this week sets the standard when it comes to training.
Indeed, the sight of four catches going down – three from Alastair Cook at first slip – was more evidence of sloppiness both in mind and deed from this fast-descending Test team.
Root, too, needs to take a long hard look at his captaincy. After winning the toss and wrongly choosing to bat first, he was erratic in the field on day two here. That was summed up by the sight of Root stationing himself at short leg at one stage – unheard of for a captain. After following up a horror winter with this shambolic performance, Root’s honeymoon as Test captain is officially over a year into the job.
England knew they needed plenty of wickets on this second morning after they were bowled out for 184 on day one.
Pakistan may have been resuming on 50-1 but with the overcast conditions and James Anderson and Stuart Broad, a pair with more than 900 Test scalps between them, operating from each end the prospect of an England comeback was a realistic one.
However, after a fruitless first hour, it was Mark Wood who made the breakthrough when Haris Sohail edged a full delivery behind on 39.
Pakistan, 87-2 at this stage, went into the first interval three down when Anderson trapped Azhar Ali lbw for 50.
The tourists still went into lunch in a strong position on 136 for three, just 48 runs in arrears.
And they remained in the ascendency after it as well as England’s bowlers continued to toil.
They were not helped by Cook dropping Babar on 10.
England’s desperation became apparent when they wasted a review following a caught behind appeal from Wood against Asad Shafiq, on 48 at the time. Replays showed the ball brushing his elbow.
Shafiq soon passed fifty, his 20th in Tests brought up with a handsome uppercut off debutant spinner Dom Bess.
Pakistan then moved into the lead in the first over after drinks.
Another difficult chance came with Shafiq on 59, Stokes finding an edge with extra bounce but Buttler at gully failing to hold on to what would have been one of the catches of the century.
Stokes, though, got his man the very next ball with a brute of a delivery that reared up and kissed Shafiq’s glove on the way to third slip.
Pakistan were now 203-4, leading by 19. That had stretched to 43 by tea but they lost another wicket on the stroke of the interval when Stokes tempted Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed to hook a short ball to deep fine leg.
With just one over to go before the second new ball, Stokes’ magic had kept England in this contest.
With the new ball four overs old in the final session, he then forced Babar to retire hurt to effectively leave the tourists 246-6.
Broad had Shadab Khan trapped lbw soon after only for the all-rounder to successfully review the decision – the ball was going over the top of the stumps.
There were then two more drops for Cook. Firstly it was Faheem Ashraf spared on 29, Wood the bowler. Shadab was given a life in the next over to the simplest chance of the lot when he edged Anderson.
The disappointment of those drops, though, was dissipated soon after when Anderson bowled Faheem via an inside edge.
Yet Pakistan, on 318-6, by now had a healthy lead of 134.
Stokes’ removal of Shadab, Bairstow taking the catch, and Buttler’s fine catch off Anderson to dismiss Hasan Ali gave the Lord’s crowd something to cheer about.
Yet there is no escaping the fact it will take some doing to deny Pakistan victory from here.
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