Rizwan drives through extra cover – Getty Images
England, once again, hammered Pakistan in Southampton in the first innings of the 2nd test match but, once again, couldn’t win the match due to the weather. Contributing to that was some resilience shown by Azhar Ali and the company. The match ended in a draw but England won the series 1-0. This is England’s first series win against Pakistan in 10 years.
English batsman Zak Crawley announced himself to the cricketing world with a blistering innings of 267 runs which included 34 fours and 1 six off Yasir Shah. Crawley’s repertoire of shots was on display as he cruised away with an attacking strike rate of 68.
Jos Butler also played a massive part in England’s mammoth first innings total of 583 with his knock of 152 off 311 balls. Together, Butler and Crawley piled up a partnership of 359 runs which is now the joint fourth-highest fifth-wicket partnership in Test history.
Zak Crawley came on to bat averaging 28.54 in 7 Test matches but ended the test with an average of 48. It seems like England’s long search for a number 3 since Jonathan Trott is finally coming to end.
So, What did Crawley do differently this time?
Well, Crawley took a massive leaf out of Woakes and Butler’s innings playbook of the first test match. In that match, Pakistan was in a winning situation when Woakes came onto bat but his attacking mindset left the Pakistani quicks clueless and they kept on searching for answers and missing. England realized that Pakistan’s pace bowling attack lacks only one thing and that is “Experience”. So, the plan was simple to put the inexperienced attack under pressure by an overtly aggressive approach and watch them miss their line and length. Thus, Crawley’s intent was clear from the very first ball as he flicked Shaheen Shah off the pads for a boundary.
Another spectacular performance for England came from Jimmy Anderson, who took his 29th 5-wicket haul and also reached the milestone of 600 test wickets. Anderson has the distinction of being the first seamer and 4th bowler overall to claim 600 test wickets.
For Pakistan, Azhar Ali’s match-saving century in the first innings was definitely a highlight of the match. We talked about Azhar Ali’s skewed balance in the previous article but his significantantly improved balance and clearing of front leg worked like a charm as he scored an unbeaten 141. His knock was an eye-candy not only for fans but also for The Great Brian Charles Lara as he tweeted:
“Captain Azhar Ali batting to save his country a Test match with no chance of winning [and to play] pretty much dull cricket if he was to achieve it.”
“But quite the opposite I was watching one of the best Test hundreds and rearguard action I have ever seen. Two great partnerships with Fawad Alam and Mohammed Rizwan but Azhar Ali played one of the best captain’s knocks in modern cricket.”
Pakistan is set to play England in 3 T20s starting from the 28th of August. Babar Azam, their T20 captain looks to be in good nick as he ended the match with an unbeaten 63 in the second innings.
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