England vs Pakistan: Hosts dominate day one at Headingley

0:01Evening. Buyer's remorse. Buy a new car? I'll be moving in. Let's get started. Uh, sorry, I think there's been a mistake. I bought it from Carvana. You what? Yeah, great price. I even have seven days to love it or return it. So there's no... No, no buyer's remorse. More like buyer's rejoice? I guess I'll let myself out. Congratulations. I mean it. Buyer's rejoice. Buy your car today on Carvana. Limitations and exclusions may apply. See our seven-day return policy at Carvana.com. Yeah, 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'll probably ever see in cricket.

0:46604 and final Test Wicket for Stuart Ford. It's India who will win the T20 World Cup. England's captain Ben Stokes, while he is there, England have hope.

1:02Hello and welcome. It's daily podcast time. Day one of the three-match series between England and Pakistan, who sit seventh and eighth in the World Test Championship, respectively. One or two converging narratives in that England have recalled Joe Root as their test match captain, and Pakistan also recalled a former captain in Baba Azam to lead the test side. Baba unfortunately missed the test match because of a bruised right hand. And pretty much there, that is where the similarities end. I'm very pleased to say that I've got representatives of both Pakistan and India sat in the same room and being very nice to one another.

1:40And that is Uruj Mumtaz and of course DK. Extraordinary days cricket really. We've had a break for rain at some point during the first session. Only 50 minutes of play in that first session. But the day started with a bang. England won the toss, decided to bowl first. Ollie Robinson had the ball in his hand. And for the very first time in Pakistan's history, a wicket was lost with the first ball of the series. And a young man in Azanaways, who you were very, very strongly promoting at the start of the series, was on his way back before he'd had a chance to break any sort of a sweat. Well, he has an unwanted record to his name, becoming the first, like you mentioned, for Pakistan.

2:20But in all honesty, I think he needs to park it away. It was an unplayable delivery, which we can all agree with. And that is something that him at this young age will, if required, have to be told. That it's something that happens. It's the pinnacle of cricket, the best format. And it is called a test for a reason. So he got an absolute peach from Oli Robinson to kick off the test match. But he does have a lot of promise. Just sort of love the way he speaks in terms of his confidence. Sean reckons he's got sort of tenacity about him, which is great to have. broke onto the scene with 10 first-class hundreds already in the couple of seasons, averaging 48.

2:58And what I liked about him was how he came back from his first test match, where he was hit flush in the head by Nahid Rana, the first delivery that Nahid bowled to him at 150 clicks. Game stopped a couple of times for two concussion tests, and he goes on to bat his way to a maiden test hundred. So all in all, has the makings of a very good test player. So, unfortunate, but he'll have to park it away. Come back from being clonked in the head, but not from being hit in the shin by Ollie Robinson's first ball. So, unfortunately, that was his first sit-ings over and done with. DK, England with the ball.

3:35You had three fast bowlers who'd all been part of the 100, which you yourself were part of with London Spirit. And one who had been preparing for the Test match series, playing 50 over cricket, bowling perhaps slightly more of an attacking length in Ollie Robinson. Just how good was he today? I thought his ability to hold length was very good. We all know how he makes the ball talk off the pitch. When he's able to land it, depending on which side of the leather it lands, it either goes away or jags back in. And we saw plenty of that. And that is why he was very highly rated. And that's why his numbers are so good as well over a period of time.

4:12He's had other issues for having not been picked for England for some time now. But one thing was always assumable and true is the fact that he definitely had the skill to pick up wickets. And when he does pick up wickets, he picks it up in a cluster as well. He is someone whom England would love to have in these conditions. And he showed why he is so good today. He picked up a couple of early wickets. And to be fair, both were quite hard for any batter to deal with. And then he came back in the middle and mopped up the middle order as well. And he picks up wickets of good balls. It's not like he's getting them caught at fine leg in mid-off.

4:48He's getting them either nicked off out of his five, if I'm right. Four of them were LBWs. I mean, three were LBWs. One was bold and one eventually was genuinely a wicket at mid-on. But the skill that he possesses when the ball starts moving off the pitch laterally is what sets him apart from the rest. And that was evident because there was Joffre Archer bowling. There was Gus Atkinson bowling. But he stood tall amongst these three bowlers in the first spell. He got the ball to move, jacked back quite a bit. Abdullah Shafiq and Imam Al-Haq dealt with the best they could but in the second spell they couldn't handle the heat either.

5:20Yeah, wickets for Oli Robinson in the first where we got rid of a ways as we mentioned. Shahan Masood was then brilliantly tricked really. Robinson had started around the wicket to both left-handers and he had a little look over the wicket, found exactly the right line and length and a little bit of in-swing and Shahan was also dismissed LBW. What about the conditions? People will look at the card and think, you know, 10, 12 wickets have fallen in the day on a first day pitch in English conditions. It was a green snake pit. Was that the case or did we see, did we just see excellent bowling from Robinson?

6:00And perhaps a little bit of inexperience in terms of batting from Pakistan. How do you see it? Yeah, I think Adik and Atha, the pitch report, mentioned that there will be runs on it. But in England, with sort of what you get out of the surface and the overcast conditions, you're always going to have lateral movement. Best exponent of the lateral movement currently in that English squad is Ollie Robinson. And he made good use of it. And it was about what DK touched on. It was about just relentless moments of consistent bowling on that certain area and just get the ball to either jack back in or move away.

6:34And that's what was the undoing for Pakistan, who I felt, who I also feel are slightly just behind the eight ball in terms of the skill to cater to that moving ball laterally. Swing in the air slightly different, but I think moving the ball moving laterally across was, so I think a little bit of both. The inexperience of Pakistan batters in England. Let's not forget Chan Masood, the only one with experience with the bat in England. 30 first-class matches in England. Mohamed Abbas, 80 first-class matches in England with the ball. Barring that, nobody else in double figures. Six of them have zero experience.

7:10And 13 out of the 17 have less than five matches under their belt in England. So they're up against a stiff task. And Ollie Robinson caught them on a great day that he was happy. Mind you, I did the pitch. On a positive note, Abdullah for Shafiq. I mean, he showed... I guess the point that I was getting at was that the pitch is... The pitch is a good one. Yeah. if you manage to get yourself in. And Abdullah Shafiq showed the technique and the temperament to prosper. Absolutely. I think Abdullah Shafiq is a great example of someone who's worked on his technique, gotten better. And why do you work on technique?

7:45Because when you come to alien conditions like England for an Asian, that's where your technique is quite heavily tested, you know, against the moving ball and the fact that it jags both ways off the seam. And Abdullah showed tremendous technique, I thought. He played with soft hands, anything into him. He drove beautifully to mid-on and then waited and played a couple of nice flicks. And you could see the fact that he's worked on a certain aspect of his game came to fruition today. And that was what is missing with some experienced players. I thought there was a genuine lack of confidence through the middle.

8:16If I have for lack of a better word, some mediocre technique as well. When Josh Tang and Ollie Robinson were bowling through that middle phase, I thought they were playing with such hard hands that getting out was an eventuality that was inevitable. It didn't feel like they were going to survive it. When Abdullah Shafiq was playing, you knew you had to bowl a really good one to get him. But you felt when others were batting through the middle, you felt like a mistake was around the corner. And as I said, for an Asian batter, probably England is one of the toughest conditions because once it's overcast, it swings, it seems, and then your technique does get tested quite a bit.

8:46And you did feel that through the middle, it was lacking a bit in terms of technique and a bit of confidence as well. Abdullah Shafiq in the right position for you in the Pakistan lineup. He's been, I think, as an outsider, that he's been messed around quite a lot by Pakistan selectors over the years. But number four looks like a good spot for him. A good spot and should be a permanent one. How he's missed out on his place, even in the one-day format. He's someone who's technically always caught the eye. I mean, I said this on comms as well. He's known as Kitabi, which means bookish or textbook because of his technique.

9:22Now, his dad and his uncle both were former test cricketers and they're harped on about getting the technique perfectly correct. And it just bodes well in conditions like this where you play true to yourself, play close within. And something that we spoke about on comms as well in terms of his dismissals, his bat, the way it comes across him, it's definitely better coming down straight. And he played four glorious on drives with that. Also, he's the only one in the last, since his debut, who's got the most centuries for Pakistan, outdoing Babur as well. And you normally don't do that. having missed his place in the test squad various times.

9:57Now, sometimes that is, to me, selection errors because we in Pakistan tend to select on PSL, wrong format. People end up losing their spots. I feel Abdullah Shafiq should just be a permanent member of this at four. OK, you heard it here first. Rujia, Abdullah Shafiq at four. I think we're pretty much all in agreement. Excellent 9-to-1 run partnership between himself and Imam Al-Hak before Josh Tang got in on the act. Now, between them, Robinson's figures, 5 for 61 from 18 overs, none for 40 for Atkinson, none for 26 from Archie. Both looked a little rusty after the 100. But Josh Tung does what he does so often since he's come into the side, made a breakthrough getting rid of Imam and that 91-run partnership.

10:42And then once the tail was exposed, just ran through them at the end and finished up with 5 for 46 himself. I mean, he's an awkward customer, isn't he? He is an awkward bowler to deal with. And I think he's been probably bowling at his best in the last six, eight months. I think he's shown his ability to get good batters out, even when they are set, which is a good skill to have. And even today, I think he's adapted the fastest among the three pacers on display. Obviously, he's got the extra pace. He's got that awkwardness about his action. Bowls past the perpendicular. So he's got a lot of attributes that trouble right-handers.

11:17And I did think Gus Atkinson bowled well. I mean, he didn't pick up wickets, but I thought Joffre was the one who looked a bit rusty. And overall, you have to say the lengths that, you know, Josh Tung bowled to get somebody like Imam out who was set. And that was an important wicket because the partnership was developing. And then once he got a sniff of that wicket, he bowled quite nicely. And you can see with the pace and bounce that he has, most of the tailenders would find it hard to deal with. Yeah, indeed. So Pakistan in the end then, a disappointing 171 all out in just 48.1%. overs and again I stress I think that the surface was certainly better than that that 300 was probably par batting first on there but but enormous amount of credit to Robinson at first and then tongue after that.

12:03England came out to bat and there there's been cloud cover throughout most of the day which I think might be the culprit as far as movement is concerned. Duckett Emilio Gay got off to a reasonably good start 36 without loss before the man that England were probably most worried about in the Pakistan attack, Mohamed Abbas, with the keeper up, Nail Ben Dukit, LBW. I mean, if you were going to guess the way that Dukit was going to be dismissed, you might have said that that was the way. 100%. And the receiving end would have been, or the delivering end would have been Mohamed Abbas because Pakistan are banking their last penny on him to do magic here.

12:40And it's a tough ask as well. But again, it was about the setup as well. The one before that just got the ball to shape away and the one that he did get wrapped in front, it looked plumb. He did review it and obviously didn't go in his favour and Mohamed Abbas, it was a touch fuller and the one that just comes back in and this is the quality of Mohamed Abbas where he's got the ability to move it both ways with all that experience he has. So yeah, got one and then one after that and then since then it's been, what, 112? It's tough, yeah. Emilio Gay, 33 for 31, played again some pleasing strokes, DK.

13:13He's only into his fourth test match now. He played three tests in the losing series against New Zealand and played a couple of nice innings. Opened up, though, by Muhammad Ali, who struggled to find any sort of consistency, but found one that left him from over the wicket and nicked him off. Yeah, I think that is an area of vulnerability for him, where from over the wicket, when he's able to just angle it away off the seam, he tends to open up quite a bit. Most batters would open up now at that angle. It is normal to open up. But when you open up so much to the point where both your feet are facing the bowler, then you know that he is literally getting into a very awkward position to deal with anything.

13:55And if it just moves a bit, you as a batter feel like, wow, it's done so much more. And you've seen that being exposed a bit by New Zealand. And today Pakistan have got one going away. It is a workable weakness though. It is not something that is that easy to exploit. You need a bit of help from the pitch as well. but I liked the way he lined up, played with a lot of intent. I thought anything bad he put away, he got into good positions and he dealt with the first spell of Mohamed Abbas quite nicely which is pretty much what you need to do if you're an opener. Yeah, so Mohamed Abbas looks as though he's going to have to get through quite a lot of work.

14:27Mohamed Ali and Kharam Shahzad looked unthreatening for the most part. England finished today 112 for 2, Joe Rook 37 not out and Jordan Cox batting at 3 on 23 not out, playing 1 or 2 pleasing strokes. England 59 behind already on the close or at the close of day one. One last thing I'm going to throw at you, Roojie. We're used to and have been used to here over the years, bowlers like Shabh Akhtar, Ubar Ghul in more recent times, Wazim and Wacker back in the 90s. Your bowling attack is struggling to hit 84 miles per hour. Where have all the quicks gone? And who are the ones potentially that they might have picked on this tour who are not here?

15:09Well, I don't think you have enough time for my answer. All right, keep it brief. I mean, see, it has to do a lot with governance back home in terms of chopping and changing of domestic structures whereby the rungs of the ladder do not connect from talent that we have. And you've seen it, and we've all seen it. It is magic. We've got Ali Raza, who you saw latest at the PSL. Ehsanullah, Akif Javed, all bowling near to 145+. These are young kids coming through the ranks. It's just that the connect isn't there. So when you do have a finished product, he's not test ready. and hence why you don't pick him.

15:40Back home and even in first-class conditions, the grass has been taken off, it's becoming more batter-friendly because the Pakistan batters want to be batting in friendly conditions. The batters are running the show, right? The batters are running the show, so there's no movement, no support for the quicks. Hence why we're breeding a bowling attack in which the quickest of them is a 20-year-old who's sitting outside who bowls 140 clicks. And like DK said, the point of difference would have been the pace because you're only relying on Mohamed Abbas's accuracy. So it's an amalgamation of all of that, but it's really in a sad place for Pakistan because, like you said, tearing apart quicks, nose and toes and all the rest of it, showing Akhtar flying across, who you spoke to while you were there as well, is the tradition and I still feel is the strength of Pakistan cricket.

16:23And why we've gone away from it is something that PCB needs to ponder on. OK, well, we'll find out whether or not that that is a huge mistake over the coming days. But for now, England very much in charge. Joe Root's first day back on the job has been a good one. Join us tomorrow to see how things unfold here at Heading It. Thanks for watching.