After a thumping 75 runs loss at lords, it was time to move to Manchester for the second Test. England made two changes to the side bringing in James Anderson and Ben Stokes in place of Jake Ball and Steven Finn.
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Root, who batted for more than 10 hours, struck 27 fours in his highest Test score to lead the hosts to 8-589 declared before Pakistan’s top order crumbled as they limped to 4-57 at stumps.
England scored a commanding 314/4 on the first day of the second Test in ongoing series.
Pakistan face a tough task to stay ahead in the series.
Before the current Test at Old Trafford, Woakes had taken 19 Test wickets in three matches in 2016.
There were early off-side boundaries off either foot against Rahat Ali, and then a memorable upper-cut six off Mohammed Amir.
Woakes now has a Test batting average markedly higher than his Test bowling average which is always a good look for an allrounder. Brearley, on the other hand, did very well as a leader, turning out to be one of the best captains of England.
He duly became only the second from this country to make a double-hundred at this venue, following Ken Barrington’s 256 against Australia 52 years ago, as England reached 473 for six by mid-afternoon.
Misbah marked his maiden Test appearance at “the home of cricket” with a first-innings century. Amir, the bowler of the day and Root with no doubts is the batsman of the day IMO. As ever with Test cricket, it is as much the shots that are not played, as those that are, that make the difference.
By the time the all-rounder was caught and bowled by Yasir, Root – whose let-off came on 155 – had begun to show more attacking intent, epitomised by a handful of reverse sweeps.
Even before Pakistan’s collapse, there had been enough fleeting signs to suggest that this pitch will eventually turn towards the bowlers occasional moments of uneven bounce, such as the ball that bowled Alastair Cook on the opening day, and one or two signs of turn for Yasir.
Azhar’s torrid series continued when he lobbed a gentle one-handed return catch to a leaping Woakes and Rahat couldn’t get his bat out of the way off Woakes’ short pitched delivery to spoon an easy catch close to the wicket. He was wise to leap at the opportunity on such a welcoming batting surface.
Woakes (58) was England’s driving force, in the first hour especially. He fell for 58 from 104 balls, 13 minutes before lunch, when Yasir forced a return catch from around the wicket. It was a borderline decision – Snicko offered more convincing evidence than Hotspot – but sometimes borderline decisions are what you are landed with and it is hyper-critical to condemn either the system or the umpires involved for an unavoidable state of affairs.
Then Bairstow had an escape on nine when Sarfraz Ahmed could not hold another chance off Yasir.
Johnny Bairstow joined Root and the duo added another 100-run stand as they accumulated 106 runs together as a tired-looking Root was dismissed while trying to hit Wahab after his exquisite innings.
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Root’s 10th format century came after several occasions when he has, on his own admission, had only himself to blame for falling short. He got 10 wickets in the last game and he forgot the basics.
