It has been a very satisfying first hour for England.
Advertisement
There was enough time left on the second day for England to put Pakistan through 24 overs and they would be very happy with the results in that period, felling four wickets – three of them coming through Woakes – before stumps.
“At the end of the day we are happy with the decision, hopefully we prove it right by some time tomorrow”.
Cook, who won the toss and elected to bat on easy-paced wicket, hit 15 fours in almost four hours as both batsmen negated Pakistan’s spin threat of Yasir Shah, who is still seeking his first wicket after bowling 18 overs.
Woakes, who earlier on Saturday made a brisk 58, then underlined his growing all-round credentials with three for 18 in six overs as he dismissed Mohammad Hafeez (18), Azhar Ali and nightwatchman Rahat Ali (both one).
Moeen Ali ultimately wrapped up the innings, Misbah top-edging a sweep to opposite number Cook at short fine-leg before Wahab holed out to deep midwicket.
Anderson, England’s all-time leading wicket-taker, marked his return to Test cricket on his Lancashire home ground, after missing Pakistan’s series-opening 75-run win at Lord’s last week with a shoulder injury, by taking the first wicket to fall on Sunday.
However, despite Woakes’ late heroics, this day belonged to Root.
A exhausted but satisfied Joe Root revealed some words from England’s bowling coach, Ottis Gibson, on the first day at Old Trafford were the inspiration behind the highest and longest of his 10 Test hundreds.
But Root returned to the middle to join his captain and the pair took England through to the close without further loss, Cook finishing on 49 not out with Root on 23. At one stage of the afternoon Root went 46 balls without hitting a boundary, as Misbah posted a sweeper for his back-foot drives – and Cook, the old pro, took more of the strike.
The newly top-ranked test leg-spinner Yasir Shah had a day to forget, remaining wicketless after bowling 31 overs while conceding 111 runs.
1 – This was Root’s first century as a No.3 batsman.
Stokes was motoring along on 34 from 50 balls, dominating a 57-run sixth-wicket stand with Root, when he was given out caught behind on review to Wahab Riaz despite the absence of compelling evidence that he had hit the ball.
Just one wicket fell in the afternoon session, with Ben Stokes given out on review.
Poor fielding has been a feature of Pakistan’s play this series and Bairstow was reprieved on nine when he edged Shah only for wicket-keeper Sarfraz Ahmed to fumble the catch, after several juggled attempts.
Hungry England should have faced a tough slog to claim 20 wickets on this batsman friendly pitch but having gone 1-0 down in the first Test they have already bitten a sizeable chunk out of the Pakistani batting.
Advertisement
Alastair Cook held the advantage as England surged to a big lead against Pakistan.
