England v Pakistan 1st Test at Headingley

Neil whitaker reports

OLLIE Robinson got his second five wicket haul of the season in his second Test match of the summer and his fifth in total while Josh Tongue took his first Test five wicket haul of the summer  as Pakistan were dismissed for 171 in less than 49  overs.

At 97 for two in the 30th over  there was no hint of the carnage that was to come when Pakistan lost seven wickets for 54 runs in 13 overs. Abdulla Shafiq top scored for Pakistan with 61 and Inman-Ul-Haq  made 42.

On an overcast morning England, with four seamers won the toss, put Pakistan in and Robinson struck with the  first ball of the series.  It was the first time in 19 years and the first time in England  that a wicket has fallen to the first ball of a Test. Robinson hit Azan  Awais on  the pads and was given out. Azan  Awais reviewed it and the replay showed it was hitting the leg stump.

In his third over Robinson got his  second wicket when he   brought a full ball back in at Shan Masood and got his second leg before.  Balls  earlier  Inman-ul-Haq was hit on his pads by Robinson, this time he was given not out but England reviewed it.  Umpire Chris Gaffaney got his second decision right.   So following the previous correct decisions by Gaffaney, Shan Masood decided not to review it.

England lost their second review when they thought Abdulla Shafiq had got an inside edge to Jamie Smith but was given not out this time by umpire Allahuien Paleker and again the umpire got it right. And that was the last action of the morning as rain drove the players off the field for 70 minutes.

Robinson had to wait until his 14th over for his next wicket when Saud Shakeel was given out by umpire Gaffaney but Saud Shakeel  waited too long to review it.  This time the television replay showed that Gaffaney  got the decision wrong because the ball was going over.

Abdulla Shafiq said: “I was confident that the ball was missing and told him to review it but he was too late and he was frustrated when he saw that he should have reviewed it.”

Abdulla Shafiq was bowled by Robinson who got one to nip back  through his gate hitting the top of middle.  Early in his innings he drove Robinson to the cover boundary for the shot of his innings.  He effortlessly drove Joffra Archer to the long-on boundary not only to bring  up the fifty partnership with Inman-Ul-Haq in 14 overs but also the first runs off Archer who  was taken out of the attack after bowling two maiden overs in the morning.

Robinson said: “It was nice to get a wicket with the first ball, it settled my nerves.  It was frustrating not to get picked at the Kia Oval and I was ready to play at Trent  Bridge but I wasn’t selected.  I think I have learnt a lot about myself  during the time I wasn’t in the team.  The more I play the better I get, I always want to play for England.  Hopefully I can now cement my place in the team. 

Under Joe Root it’s about fine tuning what we did under Ben Stokes and  Brendan McCullum. It’s really an exciting time in English cricket.”

After getting into an awful tangle against Tongue,  Abdulla Shafiq tickled him to the fine leg boundary and drove him to the long-on boundary to take him into the 40’s.  When Tongue switched to the Kirkstall lane end Abdulla Shafiq drove him beautifully to the long-on boundary. Later in the over he pinched a single when he nearly played on but was called through for the single by Inman-Ul-Haq.

He reached his 50, which came from 82 balls and included seven fours   from a thick edge through point off Robinson.

Robinson got his fifth wicket when Khurram Shehzad, who survived Togue’s hattrick ball by crunching it to the cover boundary, swung his bat at every ball sometimes he connected. One of the connections flat batted Robinson to  Gus Atkinson who ran round from mid-on to take the catch.

Inman-Ul-Haq late cut Archer to the third man boundary. On 40 he pushed Robinson into the off-side, set off for a single then pulled up and received treatment.  After making another two he pushed at a wide delivery from Tongue and edged him to Harry Brook at second slip who took a good low catch moving to his left.  The partnership with Abdulla Shafiq was worth 91 in 23 overs, the highest third wicket partnership against England when the opposition have lost their first two wickets for less than 10.

Pakistan could have lost another wicket on 118 when Mohammad Rizwan got off the mark by sweep/scouping Robinson for a couple, the ball could have gone anywhere as the ball flew over the slips.

Acting captain Agha Salman was bowled by Tongue who got one to nip back  at him.  Agha Salman tried to drive a ball that wasn’t there to be driven. Tongue got on a hat trick when Ali Usman tried to work him to leg but missed the ball and was given out leg before.  Ali Usman reviewed it but lost the review.

Despite missing out on the hattrick Tongue was soon back among the wickets when he angled one in at Mohammed Rizwan and thundered into his pads.  Mohammed Rizwan was given out but he decided to review it, the replay showed it to umpires call and Mohammed Rizwan was on his way back to the hutch.

Mohammed Abbas backed away from his first ball and Tongue missed his pads and stumps but Tongue had his revenge when he yorked Mohammed Abbas.

Abdulla Shafiq added: “The conditions this morning were challenging. We will try our best in the coming days. England played some good cricket but we hope the conditions in the morning will be tricky and the wickets of Root and Harry Brook will be crucial.”

Pakistan thought they had  Ben Duckett leg before to Mohammed Abbas in the first over but was given not out so Pakistan reviewed it and the replay showed it to be umpires call.  Duckett didn’t have such luck when he was given out leg before to Mohammed Abbas eight overs later when he seamed one away from Duckett.  Duckett reviewed it and the replay showed it to be hitting.

Emilio Gay who looked good in his innings hit two consecutive fours off Mohammed Abbas: the first to the square leg boundary and the second to the cover boundary was the best shot of his innings.  He looked confident but he wasn’t confident enough to advise Duckett not to review his leg before decision. Gay got turned around by Mohammed Ali who found his edge and the ball carried to Agha Salman at second slip.  Mohammed Ali squared up Jordan Cox took his edge but this time the ball sped  past third slip.

Robinson returned to the side after he missed the second and third Tests against New Zealand and joined Archer, Atkinson and Tongue with Dan Lawrence as the spinner. For Pakistan captain Babar Azam hadn’t recovered from his hand injury, Agha Salman  captained the side and like England they are  playing one spinner.

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