England vs Pakistan: England take comfortable victory over Pakistan in first Test

0:01Yeah, gone! Gone, he gets his fairytale ending! An epic way to go to a Test Match 100. The London Spirit of First Time win is the most remarkable thing you've probably ever seen in cricket! 604 and final Test wicket for Stuart Ford. It's ended when the T20 World Cup. Can you believe it? Moments after Stokes' international career is coming to an end. Another wicket for this incredible cricketer. Hello and welcome. It's the day three daily review. It's also the end of the test match. England have beaten Pakistan by a whopping margin of an innings of 103 runs. I've got Uruj Montez Khan and DK alongside me.

0:49I don't even know where to start here. England were extremely professional. Did everything with a large degree of skill and discipline. On the other hand, Ruji, Pakistan did not at any point. It was a pretty depressing loss as far as they were concerned. And, you know, we want to keep people watching. But I'm going to start with the depressing stuff first. Well, you've summed it up and we can call this review off. You've said exactly how it was in a nutshell. But you're right. I mean, we've gone on about it for as many overs and not very many. Did the test match last for not many days? Well, halfway within day three.

1:27But it didn't seem to get better. And that, for me, was a slight concern. They are far from the showing that they put up. Yes, they're not the best in the business that we've had in the past. And drawing those references puts you in almost a false pretense of what we do have right now. But in spite of that, Khuram Shehzad, Muhammad Ali were not at their best. Now, whether that was not being able to adapt to England conditions, although I felt that the overcast was not as overpowering as what we've seen in stark England conditions where the ball is difficult to sort of control and stuff. Like you said earlier, they just weren't good enough for long periods of time and it did not get better, nor the batting in terms of approach.

2:08Like Mohamed Rizwan at the back end of it was bizarre. Like Mark Wood, who speaks at a million miles per hour, did not have word to describe that. Maybe we'll get to that in a moment. The day started with England eight wickets down. Pakistan needed to wrap up the innings pretty sharpish. England ended up stretching that lead to 238 before the last two wickets fell, scoring 409. And then it was very much a case that Pakistan needed to come out and show a lot of fight to try and wipe out that deficit. Pitch was pretty decent. Overhead conditions were great. Sunshine was out. Archer started brilliantly.

2:46and Pakistan never really recovered. No, I did the pitch report on day one and I said there's a lot of runs on this pitch and I got a lot of stick for it because Pakistan got all out for under 200. But it did have runs because England scored 400. You can always argue saying Pakistan weren't at their best with the ball. But I still think it was a 300-means-300 kind of pitch. It wasn't one where you get bundled out under 200 twice. I do feel England came with a lot more professional approach and they're superior in terms of skill and that was pretty obvious in their home conditions, as you would expect any team to be.

3:20And Archer started off with the ball today. He got a couple of early wickets and that sent the trend rolling and then the likes of Robinson and all of them came up to mop up the rest of the wickets. But you can see there is a difference in the standard of cricket played by both teams in these conditions. The batting... Batmen were removed in the first innings via good deliveries And you could argue that that was similar the second time round. I'm not making excuses for Pakistan's batting line-up. But it was a pretty torrid start for them, wasn't it? Archer and Robinson with the new ball. Atkinson applying pressure as well.

3:56And none of them seemed to have the, I guess, the patience, I guess, to trying to weather that storm while the ball was new. Is that fair? Yeah, I think so, because it was relentless. It was something that I spoke to Mohamed Abbas at the start of the day's play. and he said, well, where they faltered was assessing the conditions and adapting to them. And he felt like there was absolutely zero support down the other end. And that's exactly what England had. They had four bowlers going at you. I felt Joffre Archer was slightly hit and miss in that first inning, and hence why he barely bowled. Didn't also need to.

4:25Robinson and Josh Tung did the job. But then the four-pronged pace attack in the second innings were just relentless. Did not move away, did not shy away. But even in that, back to DK's point, there were runs in the pitch. Even Mohamed Rizwan's knock it towards the back. And every time the ball just missed, there were runs to be had. But England didn't provide Pakistan enough of them. And Pakistan, and I've said this before as well, also felt that the skill level did not match up. So the patience will only come if you've got the skill and if you've got the temperament. And that's why there was always that one odd shot or one sort of out-of-the-blue swipe.

5:02And then far too many of them together coupled with the really good lines from England. Yeah, top score in Pakistan's innings of 135 was Mohamed Rizwan with 41. Shan Masood with 29 from 56 and the rest were single figures or in the teens. You're struggling, aren't you? You're throwing it forward slightly, DK. With Test Match at Lord's coming up, they've not exactly been batter friendly. And they need Baba back, right? I mean, that's the bottom line is your captain missed the first game with a bruised finger. He must come back for the second test match, even if it requires injections or the rest of it, surely.

5:44Sure. If they need to stay in the series, it almost feels like they need someone of the experience and class of Barber Azam to come through. And he needs to perform as well with the bat. That's the kind of pressure he's going to walk in. He's the skipper of the team. He needs to lead the team well. but most importantly Baba the batsman needs to put down the marker there saying this is how we need to bat boys in these conditions because at this point of time in that team barring Abdullah Shafiq I see no one being comfortable in their time in the crease spent

6:26just too busy. Fine, I'll do it myself. Sky Sports have got 1 ,500 live matches this season. Search Get Sky Sports to find out more. That's not bad, you know. Do you reckon I could get on the telly? Don't push it. Well, there goes that dream. I think one of the things that you notice perhaps more than anything else over the two and a half days of cricket we've had here is perhaps a lack of being able to look out on the field of Pakistan and go, These are the guys, these are the leaders, these are the senior players, these are the ones who are going to get us through the hard times and perhaps stand up and punch back at England.

7:05Is that something that you sense? And is that something that can be fixed with the squad that they have? Or is that going to be a problem for them throughout? Well, the minute you say that, I can draw the comparison to the documentary that you shot. And it showed the first part of it today, the Rawalpindi Express. and someone in Shoei Bakhtar who had the skill set but was the aura, the personality of him, to pick a fight. Now, sometimes, yes, you need to be able to back up in terms of skill and execution, but I don't really see anyone here who just sort of a fast bowler, go on, just stare the batter down in the face or maybe someone in the slip court and say something just to instigate something, pick a fight, a moment, just to create something, throw the batter off.

7:46It doesn't come from, I don't think it comes from the lack of skill. I think it's the personalities in the side at the moment who are not someone who will glare the opposition down. The guys who are on the front foot. Exactly. So I think in that as well, again, no disrespect to anyone. That's just the personalities that we have right now. Again, easy to draw references to some of the greats that we have. But sometimes you need a strong leader, like you're trying to... It might not be the captain. It could be someone else who just says the right things. Well, you need more than one, don't you? I mean, that's kind of the point.

8:19that DK and myself would know playing in Test Match cricket, it's not just about whoever the figurehead is. You need four or five. The critical mass of your 11 needs to be full of guys who are kind of, you know, who are all leaders in their own right. Would you say, on the other hand, that England have some of that now? Obviously, we've had a change in captain. Ben Stokes was the figurehead, and there was no doubting that he was in charge. Joe Root is a different character. Second time at the captaincy now. Do you see out there on the field that there are starting to become other players on the park?

8:54Perhaps it could be Ollie Robinson. Josh Tung is starting to grow into being a Test match cricketer. Are there other senior players out there on the ground that England can sort of look at and go, you know what, we're starting to build a team that might start moving up from 7th or 8th in the World Test Championship in years to come because there is that sort of core of senior players? I definitely believe there's a lot of skill in England. That's there for us to see. they have a very good pace attack. But there are vulnerabilities. Mind you, a month ago, they lost 2-1 to New Zealand. And before that, the Ashes weren't great as well.

9:27And it felt like all doom and gloom. So I don't want to read too much into this performance because I feel this exposes more of Pakistan's frailties than England's strengths. That's kind of why I ask, actually, because I completely get it. We're not... One thing that is impossible to do, England, as well as they performed and as brilliant as Robinson was and tongue and the batting through the middle order, you're kind of, it's difficult to make any judgment on that because of the lack of competitiveness from Pakistan in this test match. So that's why I asked the question, I guess. I do feel this can become a very good team.

10:02They have raw materials which are definitely, when sharpened, when filtered, will only get better with experience and I can see that coming through. But there are some questions to be answered as well. For example, Jamie Smith's form, where does he stand? the fact that they're not playing a front-line spinner? What sort of 11 will they be structuring when they travel? Et cetera, et cetera. So they have some question marks as well. Are they happy with Dan Lawrence and Jordan Cox, where they are, when Bethel comes, where does he fit in? Small little questions like that, but they are much better placed to answer these questions than Pakistan are at this moment.

10:32It's easier to deal with these questions when you've got a win next to your name. Right, I know you're champing at the bit to talk about this, but again, this is a little bit of a follow-on from what we're talking about in terms of having that. That team culture or culture of sort of culpability or responsibility in the team. What exactly was Mohamed Rizwan doing at the end there with the tail? Now, he is a very senior player in this team, has capped in the team before. He's taking a single off the first ball of an over and exposing his bowl as his tail enders to England's quicks. When, you know, they're trying to save the game at this point.

11:11You know what? This is going to sound bizarre, but it's not the first time I've seen him do that. And that, for me, is a larger worry. It's not something that you can explain. It's never going to be right. For so many reasons. Starting with largely, A, you're there as the batter. You're exposing number 10 and 11. There's nothing left in the game. I get that. But there's a couple of things. There's an opportunity for you to bat and get runs and get more acclimatized to a condition and soak more of it in and show why you're the senior member? Well, show a little bit of grey matter up there in terms of where the game is or understanding the game.

11:45And thirdly, what if Mum at the Basz clocked one on his sort of chest or head or broke a finger in being exposed to Josh Tung or Ollie Robinson nips back one and hits him in the place and he's not available for the next match? Just largely speaking on the surface of it, let alone everything else of why it's so wrong underneath. So, again, back to a similar sort of theme here. Are there leaders in the Pakistan dressing room, whether it be Baba, whether it be Salman Aliaga, the standing captain, the coaches who are going to get the team together and go, hey, listen, we haven't played very well. And we might not have the sort of like the skill in our squad that we would like here.

12:26But what we can be as a team and what we can we can do is perform in the in the right way and stand up for one another. And that is not that is not acceptable. Is there that sort of environment in the dressing room where people can be that honest? Well, I mean, I think DK will probably agree with me. In the subcontinent as a culture, there's a little bit of ego status crossing lines which muddles up professionalism. And that is something that should change. Now, you obviously want to phrase the question carefully. It's like, can you help me explain what was going through your head or whatever?

13:04But I still feel it has to be addressed. Now, whether Babur does it or Salman Aliaga, who I credit a lot and I really respect him for being honest. The first question he answered to you at the press conference, he was like, straight up, hands up. We did not play well enough. Simple. Every time you gave him a chance, but he hit the honest truth and said, well, we were not good enough. But in that, does Babur do it? You've got a senior member in Umar Ghul and Sarfaraas Ahmed there also who saw this pan out. Now, but I really feel it needs to be pulled up and it needs to be done collectively. Right?

13:31Like you were saying, the skill in all of it. and I had the game gone. And it comes down to smarter decisions throughout the game as well, right? So a lot of those things, but it needs to start somewhere where there needs to be a little bit of accountability because that's a real thumping, isn't it? In innings and 103 runs. You're sitting there grinning. It's a systemic problem. See, you can, as a group of senior players, you know, you need to stand up to that. But if you want to, you also need to know that there's a structure in place, people in place who will back you, who will know that you're doing the right thing.

13:59If everybody is walking on very choppy waters or they are walking on eggshells, then nobody has the courage to stand up and ask someone the question. Obviously, you know, subcontact, there is a bit of hierarchy, understandable, but this is a systemic problem, it's but too obvious. He is going to continue playing because nobody will raise a voice within the room or the coaches because the coaches don't know if they are going to be there long enough if the question is raised. So it's a lot deeper than what we are discussing. If you tell me that nobody observes it, I'm sorry, I'm sure everybody is very aware of it, including Rizwan himself.

14:36So in a way, he understands in this system, you know, he's doing what it takes to survive because he gets out. Then he doesn't know he's going to be in the team. So he might as well take his runs and go or go and not out. So it's a bit deeper than that. And I'm sure you guys know it as well. It's just that it is how it has been. And if they really want to change, there's a lot of things that needs to change back in this world. Yeah, I get you. Okay. It comes to that point where it's so obvious, right? You can't get away from not asking. But like DK said, it's far deeper rooted, multi-layered issue than that.

15:05OK. Well, we've had Test Match cricket. It's been great to have it back after a month or so of the White Bulls stuff. Sadly for us here and for the fans who might have had tickets for Saturday and Sunday, there will be no more of it until Lords on Wednesday where England will go into the second Test Match 1-0 up. We're very excited to see what Lords delivers in terms of 22 yards of a pitch to play on. That is always a point of great conjecture. Thank you very much to Eruj and Sadiqai. And thank you to you guys for watching. England, Oli Robinson was player of the match. Josh Tung was sensational once again.

15:41And England was simply too good for Pakistan. Thanks for watching.