Babar Azam's brilliance, Chris Woakes' clinic and some early turn and bounce... ENGLAND V PAKISTAN TALKING POINTS

NICK FRIEND looks back on the rain-interrupted first day of the first Test between England and Pakistan at Emirates Old Trafford

Chris Woakes' Pakistan love affair

Given Chris Woakes’ record against Pakistan – not to mention the form he showed against West Indies last month, it should really have been no surprise to see him continue in the same vein on Wednesday morning.

For, as unusually disappointing as James Anderson and Stuart Broad were in tandem after the lunch interval, the same accusation could not be levelled at the Warwickshire seamer, who might just be entering the peak of an already fine career. Indeed, since his debut, only Anderson and Pat Cummins have taken their Test wickets in England at a better average.

But speaking two days ahead of the game, Woakes insisted that he took no issue with living his life under the radar.

“I honestly really don't mind – I'm not one for being the centre of attention,” he insisted. “Don't get me wrong, I want to go on the field and perform, I want to make match-winning performances for England, but it really doesn't bother me if I'm first choice to write about or not, to be brutally honest.

“My stats have been mentioned: they're very good in England and I want to keep working on those, keep improving them, make them as good as they can be. At my age, where I'm now 31, it's probably unlikely I'm going to go on and get 500 Test wickets like Jimmy and Broady, but I still want to go on and get as many as I can.”

Had Ben Stokes been fully fit to bowl here, it is more than plausible that it might have been Woakes who missed out, despite a five-wicket haul at the same venue little over a week ago.

His record against Pakistan, too, is almost unmatched. Since his Test debut in 2013, only Rangana Herath, Dale Steyn, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon have taken more Test wickets against them, and none as cheaply as Woakes at 16.83 apiece.

^{Chris Woakes has a fine record against Pakistan}

It was in the equivalent series four years ago that he truly broke onto the international scene. By his own admission, his Test existence up to that point had been a struggle. Eight appearances had brought 16 wickets at an average of 41.25 and a strike rate of 77.9. Then, in a four-match series at the height of summer, he bagged 26 in four Tests and has rarely looked back since.

“It was a breakthrough for me really in the Test team,” he recalled on Monday. “The winter prior to that in South Africa didn’t go as well as I’d have liked, and I probably doubted whether potentially I was going to get another opportunity.

“That was a real good turning point for me in 2016 – just found a bit of rhythm, got the ball moving in the air and bowled at decent pace that summer. Hopefully I can draw on those memories and bring some of that form back to this series.”

It was no shock, then, when he homed in on Azhar Ali’s front pad to have the Pakistan captain dismissed, much in the same manner as he did for so many West Indies batsmen.

And all from the James Anderson End as well…

Babar’s brilliance

I mean, we all knew he was some player, so no one can truly claim to be surprised. But that doesn’t mean you can’t watch on with an appreciative nod at a mesmeric bat-flow and the most languid ease of stroke.

Over the next few weeks, one gets an early sense that the world will be writing much of Babar, so it seems unnecessary and unwise to leap too far deep into exaltations of praise at this stage.

But, at least let me offer you this single thought on the sheer aesthetics of his batsmanship. They say that the best players simply have more time than the rest. And Babar, with his economy of movement and the smoothest brushstrokes, appears to have a great deal more than most. He stands tall rather than bent into a crouch, never seemingly in any modicum of rush. Even when he was square up early in his innings, he did so with a balletic flourish. When the bad light descended late in the day, it felt as though you'd have had to blindfold him before he might feel any sense of genuine bother.

Since the beginning of 2018, no one to have batted at least 20 times in Test cricket has accrued a higher average than his 65.47, edging out Marnus Labuscahgne and dwarfing Steve Smith and Virat Kohli. He is younger than his peers, but with the same all-timer potential.

For all the talk of empty stadia and an eerie hush, Babar is the kind you would pay to watch in near silence. Your ears don’t need disturbing from what your eyes are soaking in. His cover drive – unfurled on occasion when Dom Bess overpitched or when Anderson dropped too short – is of the great artists.

^{Babar Azam looked in fine touch}

Turn, bounce and a pair of leg-spinners...

As Dom Bess spun the ball past Shan Masood’s outside edge, that noise you could hear was a murmur of approval from Pakistan’s pair of leg-spinners.

Yasir Shah and Shadab Khan have had the toss result they wanted and now, after only a single truncated day of this first Test, they have seen some initial signs of misbehaviour – sharp turn and bounce for England’s off-spinner that will have them licking their lips.

Two fine bowlers and both different kinds of wrist-spinner, Shah and Khan will be desperate for runs on the board. And with Shaheen Shah Afridi on hand to offer up some footmarks around the right-hander’s off-stump from his left-arm angle, the stage might just be set for an intriguing, slightly risky team selection to pay off beautifully.

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