Day One: England 184 (A Cook 70, B Stokes 38; Mohammad Abbas 4-23, Hasan Ali 4-51) lead Pakistan 50-1 by 134 runs.
Back in 2010, that annus horribilis for Pakistan cricket, Hasan Ali’s parents set alight his playing whites after becoming frustrated with a sporting obsession that appeared to have taken priority over his studies and their dream of him one day becoming a lawyer.
The previous year Hasan and his elder brother had made their own pitch by hand, digging a two-foot deep trench before filling it with concrete and asking a local bricklayer to help smooth it over. Needless to say, this was a young man already set on making it as a professional, just not the kind his mother and father had envisaged.
At Lord’s on Thursday, when morning rain made way for watery sunshine and the surface offered a touch more vegetation than his home-made strip back in Gujranwala, Hasan was one part of an impressive Pakistan attack that, like his folks and those whites, left England’s hopes of a new dawn, after their winter of antipodean angst, somewhat burned.
The meek 184 all out from Joe Root’s side will doubtless lead to criticism of a line-up that, despite some tinkering, still seems hugely dependent on individuals coming off rather than collective solidity. But credit must go to the tourists too, who saw Hasan and the eye-catching Mohammad Abbas take four wickets apiece.
From a 2-2 series draw two years ago that left supporters wishing for a decider, Pakistan have somehow wound up as the hors d’oeuvres this summer, ushered in before the visit of Australia for some one-dayers and then the Test headliners, India. But despite their batting line-up being shorn of Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan, and their ranking having tumbled from first to seventh in the intervening time, this bowling unit was never going to be a pushover.
Though much of the pre-series focus was on Mohammad Amir, and a plan to replicate the lengths that saw New Zealand’s Trent Boult slice through England in Auckland, it was Abbas who set the standard.
This 28-year-old right-armer has already made a strong start to his Test career and in this, his seventh match, he looked tailor-made for English conditions with a smooth action, exemplary wrist control and a desire to stay full. Abbas was also the standout Pakistan seamer against Ireland in Malahide, where he took nine wickets in the Test match.
Mark Stoneman who was adjusting to a series of balls that had beaten the outside edge before being castled by one that nipped back in, while Ben Stokes was trapped lbw on review by a ball that with the naked eye looked to have pitched outside leg. Like South Africa’s Vernon Philander, Abbas gets tight on the stumps and stands the seam up beautifully to ask questions of top-order techniques, or those lower down such as Stuart Broad and the debutant Dom Bess.
The more slippery Hasan is better known in these parts, having transferred that concrete schooling to white-ball cricket and wound up player of the tournament in last year’s Champions Trophy, where his bomb-detonating wicket celebration exploded 13 times.
Here it followed Joe Root channelling his inner-James Vince, Dawid Malan’s indifferent footwork, Jos Buttler channelling his inner Root and a late bonus from Mark Wood; Hasan’s ability to keep the older ball still swinging is a fine attribute from first-change.
The support acts in the wickets column should not pass without mention, with Faheem Ashraf and Amir both vying for the ball of the day. Faheem, the all-rounder in a five-man attack, ended Jonny Bairstow’s return to number five with one that looked to be angling down the hill only to hold its line and ping the top of off; Amir’s to Alastair Cook, which caught him on the crease, was more timber-rattling porn.
While Shadab Khan, the 19-year-old leg-spinner, was always unlikely to be in the game on day one, he did get six overs to bowl and he too is a cricketer of some promise.
Provided an inexperienced batting line-up can stand up in this series – Pakistan’s start of 50 for one, under lights, was steady enough – then the bowlers should ensure the visitors are not simply early summer fodder. – Guardian service
