With the lead at 564, Cook chose to declare and England’s bowlers were quickly in the groove and Pakistan never threatened as another poor batting display saw them humbled in Manchester.
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Ball took four for 76 at Edgbaston in the County Championship last month, which could give him the edge.
As for Stokes, England can only hope for the best.
Doing without Stokes, however, is something England have got used to in a season where he has started only two out of five Tests and has not finished one. He bats, bowls and he’s a leader in the field so it is a bit of a hole. I’ll still approach the game in the same way at three as I did at four; it’s about playing the situation you’re faced with.
“It’s been a good ground for me, actually”.
The third Test is in Birmingham and begins on August 3. It doesn’t matter what you look like getting them… it gets down to how many runs and how many wickets.
He impressed on debut at Lord’s in the first Test, despite making way for the game at Old Trafford and is the most likely replacement for Stokes, along with Middlesex’s Steven Finn.
“I can’t claim too much credit for his 250, but it seemed the logical step to put your best batter at No. 3”. Whether it’s just a bit more belief or luck, but he came into the side on the back of a nine-wicket haul.
“I’m sure the rest of the series will be very entertaining to watch”.
Root (254 and 71 not out) was the star of the show and was rightly adjudged Player of the Match.
Misbah-ul-Haq offered some resistance before being bowled by Chris Woakes for 35.
Former pacer Shoaib Akhtar was disappointed by both the batting and bowling; he felt the team should have been ready considering the Men In Green had come to England early in order to prepare for the series ahead.
“It was a nice pitch, but you had to earn the right to play”, Root added.
Of all the jarring statistics, the differential between Yasir Shah’s 10-141 in the first Test and 1-266 in the second was remarkable.
“It’s the good and bad thing about our team, we can have a result like this after a good game but we can also bounce back from it. Mentally they are capable of coming back”, Misbah said at the post-match presentation ceremony on Monday.
Trying to make sense of it, Misbah believes the leg-spinner will have the resilience to restate his claim as the world’s No 1 bowler.
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Downplaying the leggie’s mediocre performance, the skipper insisted Yasir is a strong character and that he would surely analyse the shortcomings and comeback even stronger, the Express Tribune reported.
