England took a 2-1 lead with one Test to play in the series as their bowlers ripped through Pakistan to seal a 141-run victory on day five at Edgbaston.
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Root said there is still plenty of swing, spin and variable bounce which could be extracted by the host team’s bowlers, reports the Guardian. England have 28 overs left to take the remaining three wickets.
Ahmed, who said that it would be easy to bat on once a batsman, gets his eye in, believes his batters can bat for the entire day. We could not do it even on the fourth day.
Hales made 54 in a second innings where he and England captain Alastair Cook (66) erased a first-innings deficit of 103 runs with their maiden century stand as a Test match opening pair.
It is not always a role that has suited Ali, but at Edgbaston – where he was named man-of-the-match after scoring two fifties – he played his part with the ball as Pakistan were dismissed for 201 on Sunday. In the past we’ve been very good when we’ve been ahead, but this was the first game in a while when we’ve been behind and fought back’.
Ali’s influence will be crucial this winter when England visit Bangladesh and India – and Bayliss has also told Adil Rashid that his chance will come too on the sub-continent – if not before.
Pakistan’s chase of 343 stuttered in the second session, in which England claimed six wickets for 79 runs, and the match was wrapped up after tea, which the visiting side resumed at 148 for 7.
“The spell just after lunch that Moeen and [Stuart] Broad put together in partnership was reassuring and quite simply the difference was his discipline of length”, said the coach.
“At some stage, he will get an opportunity”. “We saw past year at The Oval, the wicket had a bit in it for everyone”, he said on Monday (August 8). We’ve all seen him fall a little short at times but I thought he got it pretty much spot on in that spell. It’s a bit harder to run down the wicket and hit over the top and play reverse sweeps and sweeps.
“Anderson and Broad are used to these conditions”.
The equation is far from simple – England, in fourth right now, need to win the final Test against Pakistan at The Oval and hope India, currently No2, fail to win one of their final two Tests against West Indies in the Caribbean. “But unfortunately, the way I’m wired, [it has] happened in the past – and did (last) week”.
England’s leading wicket-taker has usurped India’s Ravichandran Ashwin after four wickets in the match against the third-best Test team in the world, the second time in less than six weeks that Anderson has topped the bowling table.
‘The side back then had a lot of players in their early to mid-30s but now we have a backbone of a team that could go on for another 10 years and that’s very exciting.
“If we are brutally honest, it would be a bit soon for the team – we are still developing, and there is still inconsistency”.
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He said: “I think the way he has applied himself to Test cricket over the last 18 months has been great”.
