Despite Lord's defeat Chris Woakes emerges as a huge positive for England

In a dramatic turnaround of sorts promising a thrilling and engaging contest in the last 2 days of the Lord’s Test, the visitors helped by the ever so calm demeanor of skipper Misbah-ul-Haq, Pakistan made the hosts feel the heat in what appears to be a chilly English winter.

England though looking set to recuperate from the first innings shortfall of Pakistan’s score and conceding a lead of 67 runs were looking at a target mounting to 300 plus courtesy an excruciating and painstaking display of defensive batting at the cost of England’s valuable time by the Pakistani veteran Younis Khan as he carved his way to 25 in no time (pun intended) of 95 balls denying England the opportunity to dismiss Pakistan for a paltry second innings score as Younis forged an important partnership with Asad Shafiq, the importance of which cannot be understated.

While Pakistan has been led by example by Misbah-ul-Haq, England have overtly relied on Chris Woakes whose 11 wickets in the game evenly spread out in both the innings, returning with figures of 6/70 in the first innings and 5/32 in the second has been instrumental in pushing the cause of face-saving and rather history defying victory here at Lord’s considering that England has won only 1 of their last 5 Tests at lord’s.

Woakes for long has been considered as a replacement, more so a seat warmer for Ben Stokes who for Woakes’ benefit injured himself right before the start of the series, Woakes has now been the sole bright spot in a rather average performance from the England team who have found themselves being challenged by a rather skillful opposition which has refused to bow down at crucial junctures. By virtue of his performance here has upgraded his class and has made the case for him to be considered as a separate and non-attached entity to fellow all-rounder Ben Stokes. Their combined presence in the England lineup will further enhance an enriching pace attack for the England team.

Also read – Open letter to the Pakistan team after their win in the Lord’s Test

He looked like a man on a mission right from the start of the match, notably setting up Shan Masood with a bunch of quick deliveries with a good degree of bounce and a hint of swing coming in to the batsman and yet, Masood remained oblivious to the swing, not obstructing the deliveries path and yet, an agonizingly close delivery with a good degree of bounce found the edge of Masood’s bat handing Woakes his first wicket.

He continued bowling to the body of the batsman, the line and length was spot on, firm, consistent and absolute and Woakes was rewarded for that, his ability to extract some extra bounce from the pitch was another advantage. He was perfect at strangling the batsmen for room and was rewarded for the same with catches in the slips.

In the second innings, Masood was once again set up by Woakes with a bunch of deliveries targeting his leg stump. After an lbw appeal was turned down, he resorted to the off side and Masood was trapped with an edge handing a catch to the slips. Woakes persistent line and length seemed like a lesson straight out of the bodyline series.

There was abundant bounce but the room to swing the bat was minimal! The prized wicket of Sarfraz Ahmed who was on the move, manipulating the bowlers’ length by shuffling in the crease; was the best addition to Woakes’s kitty of wickets as he trapped Ahmed in a rare stationary moment sneaking in an edge of the bat, caught by Jonny Bairstow.

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On the personal front, Woakes has every right to be pleased with himself and yet, the lack of complementation on part of his fellow English teammates meant that England, though starting out as the favorites were outdone by a side worthy of the victory, let down by their catching, they made sure they replicated the moments which would potentially fetch them wickets and in time, the catching straightened out too.

Chris Woakes’ performance though worthy of praise was matched and perhaps outdone by Yasir Shah, returning paceman Mohammad Amir turned around a relatively quiet match for him as he castled Stuart Broad and Jake Ball, asking questions with his fiery pace and handing Pakistan a victory. The push-ups were a definite icing on the cake. So much for the army guys back home! Meanwhile, Pakistan’s return to English shores augurs good fortune this time around!