Bess and Broad to the fore as England end winless streak in style
Pakistan capitulated in their second innings as England completed victory in the second Test by an innings and 55 runs.
Published : Jun 03, 2018 21:41 IST
England made amends for their Lord's debacle with a comprehensive victory over Pakistan at Headingley to tie the series 1-1.
Joe Root's side were thrashed by nine wickets in the opening Test match but found their groove in Leeds, dominating with bat and ball to end their eight-game winless streak.
Newcomers Dom Bess and Sam Curran impressed with the ball on day three after Jos Buttler brought his swashbuckling best with the bat to build England's lead to 189.
Buttler's unbeaten 80 helped the hosts post a respectable 363 all out, before England's bowlers made short work of Pakistan to triumph by an innings and 55 runs.
James Anderson – so often the talisman – got them on their way before the rest of the unit chipped in, Bess grabbing his first three Test wickets to finally put a smile on Root's face after months of misery in the longest format.
Buttler and Curran had resumed with England on 302-7 and they peppered the boundary early on as Pakistan struggled to make any inroads.
Curran, on his 20th birthday, eventually fell for 20 but Buttler was not to be denied, going to 50 with a huge six as he comfortably handled a raft of short deliveries from the Pakistan seamers.
He was dropped on 66 by Usman Salahuddin in the deep, a reprieve he took full advantage of by hitting 10 off the next two deliveries.
While the Lancashire batsman ran out of partners, his innings led to a deserved standing ovation from those inside the ground as he made his way off the field.
Buttler's aggressive approach was matched by new-ball pair Anderson (2-35) and Stuart Broad (3-28), the former making a mess of Azhar Ali's stumps in the fifth over as the batsman played around a straight delivery.
With the winds in their sails England set about stifling the Pakistan batsmen, a plan that worked well as wickets began to tumble at regular intervals.
A sublime catch by Bess at extra cover gave Anderson his second as Haris Sohail (8) departed, before the spinner was celebrating his maiden Test victim as Imam-ul-Haq (34) was trapped lbw.
Chris Woakes (1-18) and Curran (1-10) soon got themselves in on the act as Pakistan's resistance waned, their 189-run target to make England bat again looking tougher with each passing over.
Broad wrapped things up with the final two wickets as the tourists were toppled for 134, handing the hosts a resounding win inside three days.