England captain Alastair Cook hailed the character of his side as they cruised to a 330-run series-levelling victory over Pakistan in the second Investec Test at Old Trafford. Moeen Ali’s all-round contribution has also come under scrutiny, although he picked up five wickets in the second Test, his best returns since being named Man of the Match in England’s win in Durban before Christmas.
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Pakistan lead the four-match series 1-0 after their 75-run win in the first Test at Lord’s.
Earlier, Cook and Root piled on the runs in the morning session, the captain making 76 not out as England declared on 173 for one.
The touring side, replying to England’s 589 for eight declared, resumed on 57 for four and James Anderson soon had Shan Masood caught at second slip by Joe Root for 39.
The third and most important wicket to fall before tea, saw Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq removed for 35 by England’s man-of-the-moment Chris Woakes.
“The way we batted in the first innings, we could have scored more than 350-400 (but) we were thrown out of the game”.
He eventually departed for 28, caught by Alex Hales off the bowling of Moeen Ali, after Mohammed Hafeez had been caught by Gary Ballance off the same bowler.
He bowled 25 overs and took two wickets in the first innings in Manchester but had bowled only 5.2 more when injury struck again.
Cook – who enjoyed partnerships of 185 and 105 with Root – hailed his team-mate’s display, labelling his performance as “one of the best” he had seen in Test cricket.
Pakistan would have to score the highest total achieved in a test-match run chase to win.
Pakistan have three “reserve batsmen’ in their squad in Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Rizwan and Sami Aslam”.
“It was hard to come back in the game facing 600, and then our batting was a big disappointment”, he said.
Two ball into the 22nd over of the innings, his sixth, the Durham pace bowler pulled up with a right calf strain and left the field.
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The expected loss of all-rounder Ben Stokes from the third Test against Pakistan has left “a bit of a hole” in the England team, coach Trevor Bayliss has said ahead of the match at Edgbaston, starting next Wednesday.
