England pulled off one of their most incredible overseas Test wins to utterly vindicate Ben Stokes and his commitment to relentless positivity.
With every England fielder gathered around the bat as Jack Leach twirled away, pushing for the final wicket, the drama was at fever pitch for everyone in the ground. And when he finally managed to slide one into the pad of Naseem Shah and not only get the lbw decision given, but also the review to uphold it, England were in raptures.
As the players jumped for joy unconfined, Stokes held up his fist towards coach Brendon McCullum in the England dressing room in a show of triumphant satisfaction that spoke volumes.
It was everything England and Stokes had deserved for the way they had approached this challenge and as the final confirmation arrived that the 20th Pakistani wicket of the match had fallen, it was impossible not to believe that Test cricket had been changed forever.
Built on the daring of their batsmen and brought home by the heroic effort and skill of their bowlers, England triumphed by 74 runs on one of the flattest pitches they will ever lay a spike on. And boy were they made to work hard for it with Pakistan’s final pair Naseem and Mohammad Ali desperately trying to hang on for the draw as the sun dipped ever further off in the distance.
There could only have been an over, or two at best left in which to take the last wicket. Heartstopping stuff. It is hard to imagine what other possible way England would have triumphed in these conditions if it were not for the brave and cavalier way they did almost everything across the five days.
From the 14 runs taken off the first over by Zak Crawley, to the final wicket falling to Leach, to the perfectly judged declaration by Stokes, England made all the running and they were rewarded with a magical, memorable Test win as the sun set sweetly over the back of the Pindi stadium.
This was a team effort for the ages. Don’t forget less than 24 hours before the start of the match, England had half a dozen of their players in the sickbay battling a virus that eventually kept Ben Foakes on the sidelines.
And once the game began they then lost one of their key bowling weapons to a freakish injury when Liam Livingstone jarred his knee and was unable to bowl his legspin in the match. And yet every obstacle they were presented with, only seemed to provide an opportunity to show their resilience and character as player after player stood up to be counted.
It was the batters and spinners who took centre stage across the first four days, but on day five it was the seamers turn to shine and they buffed up more brightly than a ball rubbed on Jack Leach’s head. Anderson has been doing this for years, so we shouldn’t be surprised at his quality, but the man is 40-years-old for goodness sake and his second innings 4-36 was a magnus opus of a performance.
At the other end Ollie Robinson was equally as impressive in taking 4-50, bowling his heart out with huge skill and competitiveness that bodes oh so well for the rest of his career. He has had his moments, good and bad, in an England shirt already across his 12 Test career, but throughout it all there has never been any doubt about his ability to get good players out once his body is functioning well.
He arrived in Pakistan fit for purpose, both in terms of his general fitness and aerobic conditioning, but also without any injury issues that had blighted him earlier this year and it showed. And then there was Stokes the bowler doing his bit by pushing his body time and again, over after over to try and get his team over the line.
He bowled 11 lung-bursting overs off the reel between lunch and tea as England fought tooth and nail for the eight wickets they arrived at the ground needing to win. Pakistan made a strong attempt to chase the runs they needed by attacking England’s spinners in the morning session.
Of the 32 overs bowled, they took 72 runs off the spinners and just 16 off the seamers. That is why England’s plans had to change and why the herculean efforts of Stokes, Anderson and Robinson were so impressive.
England have got a new blueprint for this grand old game, and it well and truly works.
