England vs Pakistan: Brook almost hits Headingley century as England stretch lead

0:01Yeah, gone! Gone, he gets his fairytale ending. An ippet way to go to a Test Match 100. The London Spirit of First Time win is the most remarkable thing you'll probably ever see in cricket. 604 and final Test wicket for Stuart Broad. It's ended when the T20 won't happen. Can you believe it? Moments after Stokes' international career is coming to an end. Another wicket for this incredible cricketer. Hello and welcome. Day two daily review for the Test match between England and Pakistan at Headingley. It's been an excellent day for England, but unfortunately for Pakistan, rather like the weather, it has been a grim one.

0:46I'm in the company of Erojimond, Taz Khan and Stuart Broad. England powering to a huge first innings lead here at the moment. I'll start with you Stuart batting from England they started 112 for two overnight Cox and Rupert in big game for Jamie Cox a big opportunity for him to go on and make a big score yeah it's it was a brilliant partnership you say Jamie Cox and Jordan Cox Jordan Cox Jamie Cox a fine Jamie Cox was a brilliant player. Didn't get into the Aussie side. Somerset. And I put a lot against him when he was playing for Somerset. So well done. You get a tick for picking up the host early doors.

1:30It might not be the only time. You just got me thinking. It's been a long day. It's nearly half past seven for God's sake. I thought he played really nicely. And, you know, batting number three, second test match. He's scored a lot of his runs for Essex, batting four and five, averaging 65 for them. but the opportunity in the England side isn't at four or five, it's at three because of Jacob Bethel's injury. So he wants to grab that opportunity. And half of his mind must be thinking, well, Jacob Bethel's coming back into this side. There's no doubt about that. 100 at the SCG, looks a fine player.

2:04If I score runs, maybe I could be the wicketkeeper, batting number seven. And that's his slot into this team. So he's going to do that by weight of runs and showing that he's streetwise, he's battle-hardened and he's ready for the fight. And he showed all those attributes today. And he played really nicely on a pitch that has nibbled and has spun a little bit, actually. I know there's been some really nice shots played, but I think from a Pakistan bowling point of view, they will have felt they've given a lot of boundary balls away. Because when they've been in a good area, they've been very threatening.

2:41but they've just leaked boundaries at the wrong times. So, yeah, I think England will be really happy with the position they've got themselves into, 364 runs with a good lead and Cox will be thrilled with his day's work. Yeah, 73 for Jordan Cox. On the back of that, 150-run partnership between himself and Joe Root, and it was a bit of a surprise for everybody when they both fell. The lights have been on for all of the day's play. We lost the entire morning session. Didn't start until quarter to three because of rain up in Leeds. And cloud cover, lights have been on. Pakistan had a real opportunity from the start of play today, but just simply haven't been good enough to take it.

3:31Is that fair? 100%, because we saw when they did get it in the right areas, the ball nipped around. It made it difficult for the batters to score. So at one point, I was sort of scratching my head to figure out what is the plan here? At tea, I did a session, just saw Wagon Wheel of where Pakistan have leaked boundaries, and they leaked boundaries 360, and that's the problem. So if you're leaking boundaries all around the ground, Rory touched on it as well, there was frequent sort of bad boundary deliveries, which Brook and Root in particular made good use of, and Jordan Cox as well. But then came a point where what is the plan?

4:03What are Pakistan trying to do here? What is the plan? How do they get a wicket? even if it's not the plan that works, but stick to one for a longer period of time. And that's where none of that happened. So not too consistent, didn't make use of conditions. And every now and then when they did, it certainly looked different. It just wasn't for long enough. They had tiny periods of control. Mohammed Abbas, of course, was excellent. An economy rate just over three. but the rest of Pakistan's bowlers, Muhammad Ali and Karim Shahzad in particular, just unable to build any sort of pressure whatsoever.

4:42And as Arouge says, there didn't seem to be any sort of plan that they were following in terms of trying to stifle England, who, to be fair to them, have scored at a rate up around 4.6 runs and over, but it hasn't been fastballed by any means. They've just hit what's been offered to them and that was plenty of four balls all day. Yeah, and ultimately I've got some sympathy for the bowling attack and the fact that you've been bowled out cheaply day one. And whenever you are defending, so to speak, a low total, you feel like you've got to make things happen. You feel like you've got to bowl your team back into the game.

5:15So you can chase it a little bit. And I think Pakistan will look at that first innings with the bat and be frustrated, actually, because the pitch is spinning a little bit. So they would theoretically be bowling last if they got a decent amount of runs on the board. and a decent amount of runs. I'm thinking if they got 270, 280, they'd be really in the game still. And that gives their bowlers more opportunity just to keep it simple and hit a good area. I think it's taken their bowlers one spell too many to settle. Headingly, like Lords, can be a really difficult ground to bowl on for your first time when you're running up a hill or at Lords across a slope.

5:53But at a test match level, with the practice that you get pre-game, I think that's a one spell thing, not three. Running up the hill, down the hill, figuring out your tempo. Not three. Stride pattern, yeah. So, you know, that's, you know, part of being an away team is getting used to those sort of conditions. You'd expect English bowlers to adapt a lot quicker because the amount of deliveries they've bowled on these pitches. But when you're defending a low total in the first innings, you can't have three spells to get used to the slope. and they'll look at that as being too many bad balls and too many overs that have gone for more than eight.

6:31They're the overs that really hurt you because you can bowl controlled little periods and then you go for 17 and you go for 16 and it's all gone. We had a bit of fun during the rain break and had the film room with Nasser and Athers sat with David Lloyd who was coaching his first series he's coach of England for his first series against Pakistan in 1996, the last time that Pakistan won in England. And we were watching some torrid bowling or torrid spells of bowling from Wazim and Waka beating up Nasser Hussein and Michael Atherton on the field. And the contrast, Rooji, between that test cricket and some of the stuff we've seen here today has been quite stark, hasn't it?

7:16Which is a sad but a reality. It is two ends of the spectrum. I mean, we all saw it and it was ahs and oohs because every time it was either bruised, shoulders, ribcage, sort of flush in the head or toes were being crushed, right? And it happened repeatedly. And it was about periods in the game. You look at Test match cricket and you have to be able to be sort of hitting your straps with that new ball, Vaseem with the swing, Waqar with the nip and seam and the extra amount of pace. But not just that, what they could do with the older ball as well. Just reverse swing and we saw some of the balls just go and the English bat is in their prime having no clue about it.

7:52And that's what Pakistan in terms of quick bowlers was in terms of legacy. And that's why up until, for that matter, up until 2016 as well, Mizba Al-Hak's famous push-up at Lord's, even up until then, it was a side that would, there was a bit of a wow factor. There was somebody that would do something different. You would still watch the likes of Inzi and Mizba and Umar Gul and Saeed Ajmal. It's just fallen off. and it was almost hard watching Muhammad Ali and Khuram Shahzad in particular struggle. We didn't do it to upset you. I know you're our guest. And to Brody's point as well, I mean, you look at Muhammad Abbas, but what he did need was support at the other end, which was far from anything and then far too many boundaries being leaked and then no amounts of pressure being applied with conditions perfectly suited to seam bowling.

8:42Well, let's look through the England batting card then. Duckett and Gay were the two men out on the evening of day one. Jordan Cox 73 as I've mentioned. Joe Root made 66. He'd have been very frustrated to have missed out on what looked like an almost certain hundred which would have given him 42 level with Ricky Ponting in terms of centuries for test batting. And then Dan Lawrence made 51. Played really well. Did what Dan Lawrence does. They bowled two straight to him. Smashed it through the leg side. Played some really eye-catching strokes before he was knocked over the second wicket taken by left-arm spinner Ali Usman, who we'll get to in a moment for 51.

9:21Another sort of frustrating start for Dan Lawrence. He's another one like Jordan Cox, who probably has to score a mountain of runs in the opportunities given in order to perhaps be more permanent in the England side. Hard to know, really. Yeah, that number seven or number six spot in front of Jamie Smith, the wicketkeeper at the moment, you'd say is up for grabs. You've got Will Jacks as an option who's currently missing. This is the Stokes conundrum, really, isn't it? How do England replace that, the great all-rounder? Yeah, and I suppose you know Dan Lawrence will score useful runs. I actually think he may be feeling the trap of getting a bit mentally bored out there.

9:59Not the fact that he didn't want to go on and get a big score, but he's been playing a lot of white ball cricket and he got to his 50 and that was almost like a target reached and he didn't reset his brain and tried to predetermine shot straight over straight mid-wicket and top edge straight up in the air. But his bowling will be the one that we need to see a little bit from. He's got nine wickets over 70 for Surrey this year. But if he can go and pick up useful wickets with the ball, sort of solves that conundrum a little bit and allows England to play the four quicks that they can rotate throughout.

10:32So, yeah, he's got a great opportunity, Dan Lawrence, to, you know, he's been in and out this side. He's opened the batting at times. He's filled gaps for the team. He's been a really good tourist, been a good team person. But now this is chance. They've gone, here's your shirt. You're batting six. Make some useful contributions with the ball. We've got South Africa coming next in South Africa that you can hold up and end. And then the Ashes. So what an opportunity for him. Yeah, terrific opportunity. So at the close of play, on day two, Pakistan are right up against it. England only five runs shy of a 200-run lead.

11:06There has been some good news for Pakistan and that sort of ties in nicely with the idea of Dan Lawrence and his off-spin, is that the left-arm spinner, Usman Ali, has picked up five for here at Headingley, which, given the conditions today and the Seema-friendly conditions, you think, well, how has he managed that? But he bowled very, very well at times, like the rest of the bowlers gave away one or two too many four-balls, but really spun the ball and troubled all of the England battles. Which almost bodes well with the decision and the toss with the 11 that Pakistan played, and everybody would have fought four seamers out and out.

11:39And Salman Ali Agha's and Pakistan's thinking was, well, we go in the hierarchy in terms of who's our best bowler as opposed to the fourth best seamer on the list, which would have been either Amir Jamal or Ubaid Shah. And I think credit to Pakistan Think Camp in terms of going with what their strength was with a little bit of turn on offer. I thought it took a little bit of time for him because there was a boundary ball at one point with six consecutive overs and then dropped one and then another six consecutive overs where he leaked boundaries. but then sort of just continued on. He's got about 200 first-class wickets, played first-class cricket for 10 years in.

12:12So he's got the experience, and that was something what Salman touched on in terms of the control and the holding role. And with a little bit of assistance that we saw, he got a few beautiful ones just to dip and turn and a beautiful guile through the air as well to clip off stump for a couple of England batters. So Pakistan, yes, tearing down the barrel in terms of elite, but we'll be happy with that five-foot for the left arm. Yeah, it was a terrific performance from Ali Usman. But the bare facts of it are that England are a long way ahead, 195 runs ahead. The weather, we are promised, and that's what Hussein tells us.

12:47So you have to believe the beak that knows the weather more than any weather forecaster outside of here, that we should be OK in terms of the weather tomorrow, in which case England will be looking to build on their lead. They have two second innings or two first innings wickets left because of Ali Uzman's brilliant Fyfer. And Pakistan will have to come out and bat with a lot more skill and gumption tomorrow if they're going to avoid an innings defeat. Stuart, Rooji, thank you very much. It's been a long but good day here at Henningly. Let's wait and see what tomorrow has in store. Thanks for joining us.