Internet Desk: Yasir Shah followed captain Misbah-ul-Haq to give Pakistan the edge after Day 2 of the first Test at Lord’s. Misbah-ul-Haq’s hundred provided the initial inspiration and Yasir backed that up with a clinical display to leave England battling for parity, his fifth five-wicket haul in 13 Tests.
England had been 118 for 1, Cook and Joe Root adding a century stand for the second wicket, before Yasir struck for his first Test wicket outside of Asia. Root, in his first innings replacing Nick Compton at No. 3, looked at something like his dynamic best before trying slightly too hard to force the pace and top-edging a slog-sweep to be taken at midwicket two short of a half-century. It was to prove a costly indiscretion.
Jonny Bairstow bristled with intent as he attempted his latest England rebuilding effort, hammering boundaries either side of the wicket with the vigour of a blacksmith at his anvil, but he too fell to Yasir, attempting to cut a delivery that was too full and seeing it skid on to the stumps.
Misbah erred towards defensive fields, as his quicks struggled for containment, but he had a dual-purpose operator in Yasir, who settled into a 15-over spell that yielded 4 for 46 once he had switched to the Pavilion End. Only the occasional delivery spun but Yasir, like an experienced engineer calibrating a favourite piece of machinery, twiddled away at the control panel, imparting drift and subtle changes of pace to leave England scratching their heads at 193 for 6.
They were grateful to Chris Woakes, who had earlier taken his maiden Test five-for, battling to the close. Woakes and Moeen Ali negotiated almost a dozen overs but Yasir again changed ends and an appeal that would once have been dismissed as highly speculative gave him his fifth victim. Joel Wilson adjudged Moeen lbw to a delivery spinning in from round the wicket and, with DRS registering umpire’s call on impact in line with off stump and ball hitting leg, Yasir did not have to consider retracting his sajdah of joy.
Woakes’ 6 for 70 had helped finish off Pakistan with only 57 added to their overnight score before the stage was transported back to 2010, as Amir prepared to bowl to Cook once again. Amir’s first delivery in Test cricket after a five-year ban for his involvement in spot-fixing on this ground was met by a few pseudo-witty cries of “no-ball” from the crowd and it was unceremoniously tucked away into the covers for a single by Cook.
He had initially struggled with his line and length, leaking 33 runs from six overs before lunch, but gradually became more comfortable as the adrenaline ebbed away. Rahat Ali was generally the most demanding of Pakistan’s left-arm trio and he removed Alex Hales in the second over of the innings, angling a delivery across to have the opener taken at third slip.
The England reply had been anchored by Cook, who benefitted from two glaring errors in the field. When he had made 22, Amir slanted the ball in to take the edge, just as he had done as a teenager, only for Mohammad Hafeez to make a mess of a straightforward low catch at first slip. There was further anguish for Amir when he began his second spell during the afternoon, his first delivery luring Cook into a drive as the ball left him, only for the ball to hit wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed on the wrist as he dived to his left.
In the morning session, a burst of three wickets in eight balls, including the dismissal of Misbah for 114, saw England wrap up Pakistan’s innings inside the first hour. Having been 282 for 4 shortly before the close on Thursday, Pakistan might have been disappointed to make only 339.
That dismissal meant Pakistan had gone from 310 for 7 to 316 for 9, with Woakes removing Sarfraz and Wahab Riaz in the preceding over. Sarfraz had looked in dangerous mood, frequently stepping down the pitch to cut and drive on his way to 25 from 29 deliveries but he gifted his wicket when slapping a short, wide delivery to backward point to give Woakes his maiden five-for.