Pakistan celebrated its independence day with a 10-wicket victory over England in the fourth test to draw the four-match series 2-2 on Monday.
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With a round of championship matches ending on Tuesday, England will be practising for their first one-day worldwide against Pakistan by the time the competition resumes – leaving, conceivably, a brief chance in mid-September for Bayliss to appraise himself in person of the plausible contenders.
England was dismissed for 253 in its second innings on Sunday’s fourth day.
England paid the price for conceding a first-innings deficit of 214 – thanks largely to back-to-form Younus Khan’s 218 and a century too from Asad Shafiq.
England are due to announce their squad for the five-match ODI series against Pakistan starting next week on Tuesday.
“I don’t see why three or four of us all-rounders couldn’t play in the same team, as long as the coaches and our captain sees our bowling and batting are strong enough to do each discipline”.
Security checks permitting, England’s next Test assignment is a two-match series in Bangladesh starting in October, before a three-Test series in India.
His successive 50 stands with Gary Ballance and Moeen Ali briefly revived suggestions that this match was not yet a done deal.
Their highest placing to date is second, which they achieved following the series win over England in the UAE at the end of 2015.
They will reach the summit if India do not beat West Indies in next week’s final Test in Trinidad and Australia fail to win the final Test in Sri Lanka.
Left-arm seamer Wahab Riaz (2-48) then got rid of Chris Woakes (4) and Bairstow off successive deliveries – effectively ending any hope of an England fightback. The Pakistan captain was pleased with the team’s ability to overcome the odds and bounce back in style, and was lavish in his praise of his team-mates for delivering when it mattered.
Moeen Ali is still unable to close an end down for his skipper and looks vulnerable when teams get after him, and Steven Finn ended the Test with a hamstring strain and will have a scan this morning.
England’s tailenders did well to wipe out the deficit and avoid the innings defeat before Shah had Stuart Broad (5) caught by Younis at leg slip off a mistimed reverse sweep. Pakistan, who did not play a single Test match at home in more than seven years, continued to maintain their position as one of the Top-ranked Test playing nations. Add to that he has had a really poor Test here with a bad drop at gully, an ill-advised rant at the third umpire and an ICC fine.
FIRST TEST: Lord’s, Pakistan won by 75 runs.
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There were a lot of “ifs and buts” before we came here to England, saying that we can only play in Asian conditions.
