Batsmen can get some idea of what to expect if they can see which is the shiny side of the ball, as this will offer a clue as to whether the swing will be away from or towards their stumps. We were trying to cope with it, but we could not handle it.
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Anderson followed Broad in reversing it from the pavilion end, and it was lovely craftsmanship.
“Pakistan were tiring a little bit Saturday night and we’d said that they had bowled really well up until that point, but then batting with Jonny [Bairstow] he makes you run”.
“They showed great character after a deficit of a 100-odd from the first innings to come back”.
“I certainly think off the field, we have made a lot of friends”, the South African added.
He was never quite so concerned as many others about England’s mid-match plight – reasoning this was a contest in which the first and fourth innings were always likely to be toughest and, of course, were evenly spread between the two teams.
“I think the way the boys have conducted themselves through these last two months has been exemplary”.
England’s Stuart Broad celebrates the wicket of Pakistan’s Asad Shafiq during Second Test cricket match at Old Trafford in England, on Sunday, July 24, 2016.
If England prevail in the final Test at The Kia Oval, starting on Thursday, they will move to the top of the ICC standings – as long as India do not win 3-0 in West Indies, where they are now 1-0 up with two matches to play.
“If that happens it’s a bit of a irrelevance for me because this side’s still got so much further to go”.
“If we do win there, I wouldn’t say we are anywhere near our potential”. I thought it might come in a couple of years time.
Cook was especially pleased by the nature of the win bearing in mind that nobody in his side scored a century or claimed a five-wicket haul.
Sami Aslam, playing his first Test of the series, had again batted superbly for 70 following the opener’s first-innings 82.
“In an absolute ideal world, I thought there were hundreds left out there”.
“I’m sure Cookie will want a night to mull it over and think what’s going to be best. but we’ve just got to rock up tomorrow with the right mentality to take 10 wickets”.
Finn struggled for pace and accuracy as he went wicketless during Pakistan’s 75-run win in the first Test at his Lord’s home ground.
“It was hard – we weren’t scoring any runs, but everyone dug in”. Moeen Ali picked the lock when he removed Azhar Ali then the quick bowlers bulldozed through the door.
But a 10,000-plus partisan crowd stirred up noisy encouragement whenever England threatened, with reverse-swing for the seamers providing extra hope.
During past year s Ashes, Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon took four wickets in his side s consolation win at The Oval. We used to have Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik who could bowl, but here we don’t have that option now.
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With a rare sense of symmetry, each of England’s five bowlers took two wickets although it required a devastating spell by Steve Finn and Chris Woakes, which yielded four wickets for just one run, to open up the innings.
