England have demolished Pakistan at Old Trafford to win the second Test by a whopping margin of 330 runs. With this thumping win over their visitors, England have now clawed their way back to the four-Test series and leveled the series 1-1 after their dramatic loss at Lord’s by 75 runs.
Pakistan had nothing going for them since Day One and as a result lost the match inside Day Four. The third Test of the series will start after a gap of three days and Pakistan have lots to ponder upon before they comeback for the remaining matches. Joe Root was adjudged the Man of the Match for his brilliant 254 and 71* in both the innings, along with four catches and a wicket. Moeen Ali also ended the match with five wickets.
The hosts came back well after losing the series opener and almost everyone contributed for them in this victory. On Day One, England’s Test skipper, Alastair Cook laid the foundation along with Root as both of them got on to score big and piled on 589 for 8 in England’s first innings. Chris Woakes was their main strike bowler when Pakistan came out to bat in the first innings with a three-for. Surprisingly, England decided not to enforce follow-on when they had a lead of 391 runs and came out to bat again.
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Like the first innings, it was Cook and Root who again added quick runs for their side and declared on 173 for 1 to set a mammoth target of 565 runs for Pakistan to salvage a draw. Pakistani batsmen threw their wickets at regular intervals and lost the match comprehensively as almost every English bowler got wickets. The only worrying factor for England is that Ben Stokes has picked up a calf injury while bowling in Pakistan’s second innings and did not take up the field to bowl again. Meanwhile, Pakistan could not even cross 250 in both their innings. With this win, the series is wide open now with two more matches to go.
Brief scores:
England 589 for 8 dec. (Joe Root 254, Alastair Cook 105, Wahab Raiz 3 for 106) & 173 for 1 dec. (Alastair Cook 76*, Joe Root 71*; Mohammad Aamer 1 for 43 ) beat Pakistan 198 & 234 (Misbah-ul-Haq 35 ; James Anderson 3 for 41 ) by 330 runs.
