ENG vs PAK: Michael Vaughan wants a veteran to be axed from England's second Test XI

England’s familiar woes in the longest format of the game continued at the start of their home summer as well. They succumbed to Pakistan in the first of the two-match Test series at the Lord’s and the visitors now have a chance to seal their first series win in the country since 1996. The hosts are struggling under the leadership of Joe Root and Mark Stoneman has already lost his place to Keaton Jennings for the final Test match. However, the former England cricketer Michael Vaughan has come down hard at the team over their recent performances.

England have been repeating same mistakes time and again and the collapses of the batting line-up have been far too often. They hoped for a fresh start at Lord’s after a miserable winter down under, but Pakistan played superbly and looked a far better team than them in their own backyard. They will have to win the second Test match now and level the series in order to restore some sanity.

Chris Woakes might play

Michael Vaughan was of the opinion that the Test team needs a shake-up as the players have got too comfortable. He felt that the underperforming Stuart Broad should be dropped for Chris Woakes and Mark Wood should be retained for the Headingley Test match. “If England wants to play Chris Woakes on Friday, I’d make the tough call that Broad doesn’t play. Teams need a shake-up. I don’t want England to go to Headingley on Friday and Mark Wood to be the one left out. It’s easy to bring in Chris Woakes for Wood,” he was quoted as saying by 5 Live.

Broad has indeed been a liability to his side since the Ashes and the calls for him to be axed from the side have increased. Even in the Lord’s Test took only a solitary wicket while bowling 28 overs across two innings. Vaughan believed that Wood has done nothing wrong to be dropped and his figures of 2/74 are not the correct reflection of how well he’s bowled.

“But for me, Wood plays. What’s he done wrong? He got 2-74 [against Pakistan]. The tactics were wrong for his style of bowling and that’s just the direction of the team and the captain,” Vaughan added. The second and final Test match of the series will commence on June 1 with a lot at stake for both the teams.

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