The form of Chris Woakes means he can hardly be dropped which is making Steven Finn vulnerable, while Misbah-ul-Haq’s command of Moeen Ali is a concern
George Dobell at Lord's14-Jul-2016He was not, perhaps, the swing bowler that many in the Lord’s crowd had hoped to see, but Chris Woakes continued his breakthrough summer with another performance of skill and maturity.Woakes, with his fourth career-best performance of a Test season that may come to define him, ensured England ended the first day of the series with their noses in front. On a slow, flat wicket, anything less than 350 might well leave Pakistan precariously placed in this match.Not only did Woakes have the quickest average speed of England’s seamers – a familiar statistic since he came back into the side in South Africa – but he conceded the fewest boundaries and offered the most threat. Gaining more life from the surface than any of his colleagues, Woakes also gained more movement and demonstrated the patience required to prosper on a docile surface. Comfortable in the dressing room and growing in confidence by the match, he is now starting to replicate his county form for his country on a consistent basis.Offered another opportunity at this level by injury to Ben Stokes, Woakes has taken his chance admirably. Having twice posted Test-best scores against Sri Lanka, he also recorded his best match analysis in Durham and has followed it with his best innings analysis here. His Test bowling average is now below that of Stokes and he must have given himself an excellent opportunity of retaining his place when Stokes returns.While Woakes has, of late, appeared to be in competition with Stokes, it is James Anderson who he most resembles as a bowler. And, while he is some way short of replicating that armoury of skills, he does offer hope that England have a decent fall back for life after Anderson.If it was his extra pace that accounted for Shan Masood – drawn into an unwise flirt outside off stump – it was his swing that accounted for Asad Shafiq. Shafiq, perhaps the most technically correct of Pakistan’s batsmen and certainly the one who plays straightest, was unsettled by a delivery that left him sharply and then found himself, unsure whether to play or leave, being drawn into an edge off the next delivery at he tried to withdraw the bat.Ball savours a ‘great day’
Jake Ball admitted the Lord’s surface was “slower than England would have liked” after a demanding first day in the field in Test cricket.
But Ball, who claimed his maiden Test wicket shortly after lunch on an impressive start at this level, felt two late wickets had left England well-placed going into the second day.
“It is a bit slower than we would have liked,” he said. “We’ve had a couple of nicks that haven’t quite carried and the ones that have carried kept quite low. It’s a wicket for being patient and hitting a good length. Then, hopefully, the batter makes a mistake.
“But those two late wickets gave everyone a lift and we know that, if we can come out in the morning and restrict to 350, we are well in the game.”
Ball also described the presentation of his Test cap ahead of play by his uncle, the England wicketkeeping coach Bruce French, as “an extra-special moment.
“It settled me down a bit,” Ball said. “He said how proud my family are of me and to receive it from my uncle was an extra-special moment. He was holding back the tears which was extra-special, again. It was incredible to get the first wicket. I settled in pretty well. It was a great day and hopefully I’ll have many more.”
But Woakes’ success was a bright spot in a day that, for England, offered as many reasons for concern as celebration. Primarily there must be a real danger that their captain, Alastair Cook, will miss the second Test while two more chances were dropped in the slips and two bowlers, Steven Finn and Moeen Ali, endured the sort of chastening days that will concern the selectors.England’s over-rate slipped way behind the required pace here. There were still 11 overs to bowl when 6pm came and three were lost when play was called-off at 6.30pm. Quite apart from the fact that spectators are being short-changed by England’s slow over-rate – if you paid £90 for a bottle of wine and a waiter took a slug before pouring it, you would be entitled to ask for your money back – Cook is also running the risk of a suspension.The ICC’s regulations (Appendix 2, section 4.2 of the ICC’s Code of Conduct) state that, for a second offence within 12-months in the same format – England were also penalised after the Ashes Test at The Oval – the captain should be fined 20% of their match fee for each over short and be suspended for the next international match. While the over-rate is only judged after a complete Test – meaning England have time to make amends – there is a real danger that Cook could be suspended for the Old Trafford Test. He has previously been suspended from an ODI in Sri Lanka for the same offence.Cook’s problem is, in part, that he can hardly bowl Moeen against Misbah-ul-Haq. So complete is Misbah’s mastery against spin in general and Moeen in particular that, after a couple of expensive Moeen overs, England relied upon their four seamers for all but two of the first 68 overs before Cook was obliged to re-introduce Moeen to combat the over-rate issue.While a first day pitch at Lord’s in unlikely to flatter many spinners – especially spinners bowling against Misbah – Moeen’s continuing struggles cannot be ignored. Since the start of 2016, he has played six-and-a-half Tests and taken five wickets at an average of 119. Yes, he has played on some unhelpful surfaces but, by conceding an average of 3.58 runs per over, he has also struggled to provide the holding role required. His place for the next Test must be in jeopardy.The same is true of Finn. Despite a typically whole-hearted effort, trying to extract bounce from a docile wicket with a prolonged spell of short-pitched bowling, Finn lacked the requisite rhythm or control and conceded more than four-an-over. His pitch map was more mountain range than mountain and, despite an average pace lower than either Woakes or Ball, he bowled almost as many deliveries outside leg stump as off. For much of the day, as he struggled with the slope, he looked like a man who had never previously bowled at Lord’s; an odd state of affairs for a fellow on his home ground.In an ideal world, England would like to bear with him, providing the support and patience required to help him rediscover his form and confidence. But Anderson is expected to be available for Manchester; Stokes, too. Someone has to make way and it is becoming hard to justify an argument where that man is not Finn.Neither of the two slip chances that went down were simple. But, on a docile surface, they were the sort of moments that can shape games: Hafeez was reprieved on 11 and Misbah on 16. On both occasions, the ball flew low and to the left of the fielders. They were desperately tough chances.But we have seen them taken. And we have, perhaps, seen a couple of the balls that flew wide of third slip taken, too. Remember the Stokes wonder-catch at Trent Bridge?Might it be relevant that James Vince was the guilty man on one occasion here? Vince has now been offered six catching chances – nearly all of them really tricky – in his brief Test career and dropped four of them. Suffice to say, Stokes’ return to the cordon cannot come soon enough.But what of the pitch? Anyone coming to Lord’s and expecting a track offering much pace and bounce has not watched much cricket here in recent years and, to be fair to the groundstaff, it cannot have been easy to produce a perfect surface given the sustained wet weather in England in recent weeks. It wasn’t great, offering little to batsman, bowler or spectator, but we’ve seen far worse and this was a largely engrossing day.It is ironic, though, that the MCC’s cricket committee continue to pontificate about the global game without tending to the problem in their own yard. The pitch at Lord’s has been sluggish for years. What might have been fine a generation ago looks arcane in the age of T20. If the MCC are serious about combating the dangers to the future of Test cricket they could do a lot worse than focus their attention into potential technological advancements in pitch preparation: drop-in surfaces, artificial heating all offer more help to Test cricket, at least, than limiting the size of bats. The expression about removing the plank from their own eye before worrying about the sawdust in everyone else’s springs to mind.
