First Test, Rawalpindi (day five of five) |
England 657 (Brook 153, Crawley 122, Pope 108, Duckett 107) & 264-7 dec (Brook 87) |
Pakistan 579 (Babar 136, Imam 121, Shafique 114, Jacks 6-161) & 268 (Anderson 4-36, Robinson 4-50) |
England won by 74 runs |
Scorecard |
In the first Test in Rawalpindi, England defeated Pakistan by 74 runs.
With the sun setting at the end of a tense final day, England took the final piece of the puzzle.
In scenes reminiscent of England's famous victory in the dark in Karachi in 2000, Jack Leach trapped Naseem Shah and left Pakistan with a score of 258 all out.
It was thanks to James Anderson and Ollie Robinson that England were in a position to win the match.
Pakistan was defiant from start to finish. The three made 76, 46 and 40. The home side was right in the middle of the game.
England was defeated by the fading light after Robinson removed two of their best players.
Anderson snared Zahid and Haris in the same over as the stadium was nearly full.
After nine overs, Naseem and Mohammad Ali were the last two to leave the field.
There is only a three-day gap to the second Test in Pakistan, which will be played on Friday.
This is an England win that will be remembered for a long time, a fitting way to mark their first Test in Pakistan.
The drama of victory being secured late on the fifth day was very much in line with the previous four days.
England scored 921 runs in 136.5 overs at a rate of 6.73 runs per over, the fastest of any team to score twice in a Test.
Going into the final hour of the match, the contest had all four results possible.
With darkness creeping in, England looked to have missed their chance when Naseem's edge off Stokes sailed between Pope and first slip, only for Leach to provide the crucial intervention.
It ended a run of 11 away Tests without victory and secured a first win over Pakistan outside the UK for 22 years with an entire XI that hadn't played a Test before.
The England squad was badly affected by a virus on the eve of the match, which could delay the start of the Test by a day.
Liam Livingstone did not bowl because of a knee injury, but they had a stand-in keeper in Pope and an attack that relied on three part-time spinners.
This is the finest win of England's new era, giving full credence to their ultra- aggressive style of play that is turning Test convention on its head.
This was a compelling, arm-wrestle of a day, with England taking complete control in the final moments.
Pakistan was held in check by England's seamers in the morning.
The hosts countered when England turned to spin. Their 16 morning overs cost 72 runs and 14 of them were conceded from 16 overs of pace.
Shakeel and Rizwan were well caught by a substitute fielder at short cover off Robinson, after Shakeel poked Anderson behind, and Rizwan was well caught by a substitute fielder at long on.
After retiring hurt with an injured finger, Azhar came back to build again in the face of England's pacers.
In the one over of spin England used in the afternoon session, Leach thought he had a sweep, only for the ball to go over the bowler's head. The Pope couldn't hold the tickle off Robinson in the next over.
After tea, England's pressure finally came to light. Robinson ignored the availability of the second ball and had Azhar guide Root to the leg slip.
The set sun was England's main opponent. Two balls later, Haris was trapped in front, after Pope acrobatically grabbed Mahmood down the leg side.
Naseem and Ali spent a lot of time together. Anderson and Robinson were taken out, Naseem was missed, and the new ball was taken by a different person.
The England win was sealed when Naseem was pinned in front.