England ready to play cricket in Pakistan again, says Chris Silverwood
- England have not toured since 2005 due to security concerns
- ‘I think we are getting there. I would have no problem with that’
Ali Martin at Emirates Old Trafford
@Cricket_Ali
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Wed 5 Aug 2020 20.40 BST
Chris Silverwood, the England coach, believes his team are ready to play cricket in Pakistan amid talk that a return visit should be one of the pay-offs for getting this summer’s Test series played.
England have not toured Pakistan since 2005 because of the security concerns that followed the 2009 terrorist attack on the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore, with the United Arab Emirates acting as a neutral venue during this time.
But with Pakistan sending a team to the UK during the Covid-19 pandemic – their squad arrived on 29 June and have been in lockdown ever since – there is an onus on the England and Wales
CricketBoard to return the favour.
Wasim Khan, the Pakistan Cricket Board’s chief executive, told Sky Sports that while England are not due to tour the country until 2022, it is hoped a short trip – either a T20 series or a visit by the England Lions – can be arranged beforehand.
Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have played Test series in Pakistan in the past 12 months, while the Pakistan Super League has also been staged in the country since 2017.
Silverwood believes England are close to following suit.
He said: “I think we are getting there. Personally I would have no problem with that. I’ve never been to Pakistan so it would be nice to go and have a look.
“I know the batsmen would look forward to batting on their wickets. For me it’s great that it is back as a topic of conversation.”
Silverwood reflected on a mixed bag for his bowlers on the first day of the first Test, having reduced Pakistan to 53 for two at lunch, thanks to wickets from Chris Woakes and Jofra Archer, yet seeing the tourists reach a far healthier
139 for two from 49 overs by the time bad light stopped play.
While Babar Azam lived up to his billing before the series with a finessed 69 not out from 100 balls, that opener Shan Masood was still there at the close unbeaten on 46 from 152 was a source of frustration given two missed chances by Jos Buttler behind the stumps.
Dom Bess was the bowler thwarted on both occasions, seeing a tough catch behind shelled when Masood was on 45 and then, three hours later after rain with the left-hander yet to add to his score, an easier stumping was fumbled.
Silverwood said: “No one means to miss them. We’ll continue to give a lot of support, as we do for every member of our squad. Jos is very capable of doing something very special for us tomorrow.
“For us, he’s been tidy there more often than not. We’ll keep giving him the support he needs because we all know he’s capable of special feats.
“I thought we started off very well. We asked a lot of questions but after lunch we weren’t so good. We bowled too many four balls, gave the momentum back to Pakistan and they capitalised. The challenge I’ve thrown out there tonight, if that happens again, and it will do, how do we drag momentum back?”
Masood, who had only one half-century to show from four Tests against England, said: “The game is pretty funny. You get an element of fortune every now and then and there are times when the tide goes the other way. You just try to stay in and whatever chances you get, you try to capitalise.
“England has always been a place for world cricketers to prove their mettle. We’re looking forward to that. We are very satisfied with the start we’ve got and we hope we can consolidate this position.”
Babar Azam shines between showers as Pakistan make solid start in first Test
Vic Marks at Emirates Old Trafford
Wed 5 Aug 2020 18.52 BST
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There was not much play at Old Trafford but there was enough to alarm, delight and tantalise – when Babar Azam was on strike. He may have alarmed the English bowlers with the crispness of his stroke play, which, in turn, delighted those in his dressing room and for the rest of us looking on there is the tantalising prospect of witnessing a batsman, who is on the cusp of turning the fab four of Steve Smith, Virat Kohli, Kane Williamson and Joe Root into a quintet.
Babar came to the crease before lunch when Pakistan were hellbent on survival. After 24 balls he had two runs. Given another hour’s batting after the break he had 52 from 71 deliveries and he had peppered the boundaries against all the English bowlers. By then Root may well have been glad of an interruption to allow himself, his bowlers and the brains trust to gather their thoughts. They came back almost three hours later for 7.5 overs, during which time Babar advanced to 69 not out and Pakistan to 139 for two. It was their day.
Pakistan chose to bat despite the heavy cloud cover, persuaded by a pitch that is apparently drier than the one used in the last Test here. Moreover Azhar Ali included two wrist-spinners in his team, who will welcome a worn surface later in the game. There are a lot of bowlers playing in this match; Pakistan have five; England might have six by the end of the contest. They selected the side that defeated West Indies here when Ben Stokes played as a specialist batsman; this time they decided not to risk him as a fully-fledged all-rounder.
The veterans Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad shared the new ball against Abid Ali and Shan Masood; they commanded respect, sometimes they beat the bat but they could not shift them. After an hour Pakistan had mustered 34 and Root had turned to his younger pacemen. Jofra Archer, ambling in to the crease, found his rhythm quickly and soon bowled Abid through the gate. Then Chris Woakes intervened to dismiss Azhar, lbw for a duck, a decision instinctively reviewed but if Azhar had hit the ball this contact was made after it had struck the pad.
The two batsmen had to battle hard to reach lunch such was the excellence of both bowlers in the second hour of the session. Masood, a tall, willowy left-hander, batted skilfully with no frills and no excesses, leaving the ball with sound judgment and biding his time. Babar defended with zeal and a very straight bat.
It was a different game after lunch. Babar had done his reconnaissance. Now the ball pinged off the middle of his bat: a back-foot drive off Anderson, straight ones off Broad and Archer and he toyed with Dom Bess, briefly a county colleague at Somerset. Given width Babar struck perfectly placed cover drives against the off-spinner; Bess and Root consulted and changed the field bringing an extra man to the off side; so Babar fetched the ball from outside off-stump to the mid-wicket boundary, seemingly without a scintilla of risk. Suddenly batting was easy.
Jos Buttler misses a chance to stump Shan Masood off Dom Bess. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/NMC Pool/The Guardian
It has not always been easy for Babar in Test cricket. His talent was obvious as was his early white-ball prowess. Yet after 12 Tests Babar averaged a modest 24; in his next 15 matches he averages over 71. The great players do not always announce themselves with trumpets blaring. The most obvious example is Jacques Kallis, who averaged 24 after 14 Tests and then did rather well thereafter.
Babar overshadowed Masood, but this should not disguise the value of the opener’s innings. However his discretion against the pacemen was not always matched by his batting against Bess. He offered two chances against the off-spinner. On both occasions Masood had scored 45 though those chances were separated by the rain break. On both occasions Jos Buttler was the culprit.
Bess found some bounce and turn and also the edge of Masood’s bat, but the catch did not stick. Then after the rain when he was still marooned on the same score Masood charged down the pitch and attempted to drive the ball down to the pavilion or possibly over it. He missed and the ball struck Buttler’s shoulder rather than his gloves with the batsman way out of his ground. The left-hander was obviously uncomfortable against Bess, which was certainly not the case when Babar was on strike.
After the rain and much faffing about play had resumed at 5.45pm; Archer completed an over; the umpires consulted among themselves and with England. Obviously they thought it was too dark for fast bowlers to be operating; so Root opted to bowl himself alongside Bess.
Soon the umpires decreed that the light was now too poor for play to continue even with the spinners in harness. It was at this point that one felt, for the first time this summer, that it was a relief there were no spectators in the ground to witness the curious rituals that make the game look stupid.
