Relentlessly, and with the sort of ruthlessness that would have been a pipedream only a year ago, the England bowlers, led by Darren Gough and Andrew Caddick, took England to victory in the first Test yesterday by an innings and nine runs inside three days' play.
Following on 188 runs behind England after being bowled out for 203 in their first innings - in a reduced match the follow on is also reduced from 200 to 150 - there were fewer than four scheduled overs of the day remaining when the Pakistan captain Waqar Younis was caught at the wicket to concede defeat.
Bowled out second time around for 179, the majority of the wickets came as a result of honest endeavour and skill on behalf of the bowlers coupled with an inability by the batsmen to function in English conditions. Quite simply Pakistan proved incapable of handling the aggression, movement and sheer confidence of England.
Backed by some outstanding close catching, particularly from Graham Thorpe, the first innings honours went to Gough who rounded off the innings with three wickets in four balls to finish with 5 for 61, his first such haul at Lord's.
It is fair bet that his name was pasted on the honours board before the side took the field second time around but this time it was Caddick, 4 for 52 in the first innings, who held sway. Bowling from the Nursery End, and able to use the slope to his advantage, he took 4 for 54 second time around, which means he and Gough (3 for 40), have taken 41 of the 60 wickets taken in the last three Tests here.
It might have been better still for Caddick. Abdur Razzaq, when 52, edged a straightforward catch to Alec Stewart only for the lengthy celebrations to be cut short by Peter Willey's no ball call. Then Azhar Mahmood, in successive overs survived a catch to the wicketkeeper that came from his glove, and another to long leg where Michael Vaughan dropped the catch as he hooked. In Pakistan's first innings, the best of their batting came on Saturday evening and yesterday morning during a fifth wicket partnership of 56 between Yousuf Youhana (26) and Younis Khan 58 from 99 balls contained nine fours.
By the time the second innings came around the stuffing already appeared to have been knocked out of Pakistan. It was Caddick who sparked the collapse, removing in turn Saleem Elahi and Saeed Anwar.
Dominic Cork then had Inzamam-ul-Haq caught down the legside and Younis Khan, lbw. When Gough had Youhana taken at short mid-wicket with the last ball of the afternoon session, Pakistan were facing disaster at 87 for five.
A resurgence of sorts came from Abdur Razzaq (53) and Azhar Mahmood (20) but Caddick then returned to have Abdur caught by Stewart and then, eventually, to have Azhar taken off a similarly abject stroke. Gough then chipped in with the wickets of Wasim Akram and Rashid Latif, before Cork ended things.
