England captain Alastair Cook celebrates victory in the Third Investec Test against Pakistan at Edgbaston.
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Ali added: “We were behind the eight ball a little bit, but fought back brilliantly”.
If England win at The Oval and India fail to win the last two Tests of their series away to the West Indies, Bayliss´s team could replace his native Australia at the top of the world rankings.
Pakistan were 124 for three when their slump started, with captain Misbah-ul-Haq (10) caught behind off Steven Finn to give the persevering fast bowler his first wicket of the series.
They now head to south London for the fourth Test at The Oval knowing they can not lose the series at 2-1 up with one to play.
In between Finn’s double strike, Woakes had Asad Shafiq lbw for a pair in the match before Sarfraz Ahmed edged to the slips which exposed Pakistan’s long tail.
It was the sixth time this series that paceman Woakes had taken a wicket in the first over of a spell.
Bayliss has long spoken about his desire to utilise two spinners in the longest form but during his 12 months in charge has only done so during the series defeat to Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates late past year, when conditions made it a given and Moeen Ali played as an opening batsman to allow the extra bowler. But a rare misjudgement by the 20-year-old left-hander saw him bowled by Finn as he deliberately left the ball. This was the 15th time they won a Test (excluding Centurion 2000-01 and The Oval 2006) after conceding a lead of 100 or more runs in the first innings and their previous biggest win, in terms of runs, was by 124 runs against New Zealand at Lord’s a year ago.
But instead they had to content themselves with a session where they took six wickets for 79 runs.
Jimmy Anderson also weighed in, having Younus Khan caught behind on four and then removing Yasir Shah for seven just after tea.
Mohammad Amir aims a booming square drive, complete with theatrical flourish, at Broad but sends the ball straight to the waiting Woakes at point.
And he said England would even consider playing three slow bowlers in India if the pitches there turn as much as they did during last year’s series against South Africa, when off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and slow left-armer Ravindra Jadeja collected 54 wickets between them in four games at just 11 runs apiece. Throw in his disciplined 63 and dashing 86 off 96 balls, and he was indisputably man of the match – unlike in Durban, when Nick Compton had been a stronger contender.
“But we thought the wicket was still pretty good and in our second innings, if we batted big they (Pakistan) would have to bat last on that fifth day”.
That took Bairstow, the son of late England wicket-keeper David Bairstow, to 855 Test runs in 2016.
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Moeen Ali was the highest impact player, and batsman, for his 149 runs. He said: ‘They just got it to reverse and we were not having any clue.
