England assistant coach Paul Farbrace has defended skipper Alastair Cook’s decision to bat again and not enforce the follow-on as his side turned the screw on Pakistan during day three of the second Investec Test at Old Trafford.
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“More than anything, I thought the way we continued to build partnerships.to take the game away from Pakistan, was exactly what we needed to do”.
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 having moved on to 39 from his overnight 30, the left-hand opening batsman er exited in familiar fashion when he pushed outside offstump and edged Anderson to Root at second slip.
Pakistan will resume the day at 4/57, 532 runs in arrears with only six wickets left in hand for this innings.
Root, who scored a test-best 254 on Saturday, pouched his fourth slip catch just before the interval, Yasir Shah, on one, becoming Chris Woakes’s fourth victim of the innings.
Alastair Cook gave his regular new-ball pair first crack at making further inroads despite Chris Woakes’ three for 18 on Saturday evening and James Anderson and Stuart Broad each struck once. For Amir, who made his return to Test cricket in Pakistan’s 75-run win in the series opener at Lord’s, Cook’s wicket was an ideal response to the repeated cries of “No-ball!” he had to endure from some sections of the Old Trafford crowd. Cook and Alex Hales were frustrated with regular breaks as rain helped Pakistan keep runs as bay.
The Pakistan bowler claimed his sixth wicket of the series as Hales got an inside edge, with wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed taking the catch.
Woakes, a nightwatchman purely in name only with nine first-class hundreds on his CV, was England’s driving force early on, in the first hour especially.
Woakes tore once again through the Pakistani batting order as he took four scalps while Moeen Ali and Stokes pitched in with two wickets each to dismantle Pakistan and bowl them out for 198.
He added another in his 88-ball 50, his second in five innings.
Ben Stokes meanwhile marked his return from injury with a healthy 34 while Jonny Bairstow (58) also registered a half century before his side declared.
Mohammad Amir, another of Pakistan’s left-arm quicks, was uppercut for six high over third man by Woakes.
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There had been a painful early blow to Woakes’ right forearm when Rahat found a little variable bounce from the Pavilion End, but otherwise zero discomfort until he poked a caught-and-bowled back to Yasir.
