Once again, cricket shines through a sad summer as England and Pakistan thrill us all

SAM MORSHEAD: This was an undulating, unpredictable riot of a Test match. A match which promised one thing, and then delivered another, as if blessed with the slight of hand usually reserved for Las Vegas cabaret

Scorecard 

Old Trafford (fourth day of five): Pakistan 326 & 169; England 219 & 277-7 - England won by 3 wickets

Cricket’s remarkable capacity to captivate shows no sign of relenting, even in the midst of a pandemic.

Drama marbled through the Test series against West Indies, it filtered into Ireland’s historic win at Southampton, and here it was again - front and centre, even if behind closed doors - on a pulsating fourth day at Emirates Old Trafford.

This was a day of cricket which deserved a sell-out, as so many have during this truncated summer; an undulating, unpredictable riot of a Test match. A match which promised one thing, and then delivered another, as if blessed with the slight of hand usually reserved for Las Vegas cabaret. 

Pakistan, at various points on Saturday, seemed locked on a collision course with victory. That was the way it looked when Yasir Shah helped the tail belt 32 runs in the morning session to take the lead to 276. It was the way it looked when Rory Burns fell early on in the chase. And it was the way it looked when Ollie Pope was knocked over by a jolting Shaheen Afridi delivery that left England 117 for 5 and not waving, but drowning.

This sport often tells us to look right and goes left, however. It’s the magic of the five-day format: time, space and the freedom for the game to breathe.

In Manchester this week, there were few indications that England could ever emerge with anything better than a respectable defeat.

They gave Shan Masood the lives he needed to compile one of the finest innings by an opener in Tests on these shores in many a year, and crumbled in response with the bat.

^{Chris Woakes and Jos Buttler put together the defining partnership for England}

They huffed and harrumped themselves into a reasonable position on Friday, but watched Yasir slap and tickle Pakistan to a position of authority.

And then they saw their middle order blown away by deliveries made unplayable by a wearing Old Trafford wicket.

But neither Pakistan, nor those of us watching from home, nor the few hundred in situ in Manchester, budgeted for Jos Buttler and Chris Woakes.

Buttler’s form with the bat had hardly been awful, but this was a man under pressure after an abject Test with the gloves. Those who swear by data analysis would have cringed at the CricViz model which suggested his work behind the stumps cost England 50-odd runs over two innings. Those who look at things a little differently might have just cringed at the glovework itself.

With him at the crease, their team still needing 160, was an allrounder averaging below 10 over his six most recent Test appearances. An allrounder without a score of more than 37 since the middle of 2018.

As far as omens go, there was more reason for optimism when baby Damien arrived home from the maternity ward.

Cricket likes to tell you one thing and do another, though. It’s a merchant of chaos, and that’s what makes it so infinitely watchable.

And so, as the sun beat down on English back gardens this Saturday afternoon, so fans rolled up the sun towels and retreated to the nearest TV. It might have been 33 degrees outside, but cricket was doing its thing. Again. And that demands our attention.

Woakes and Buttler decided that simply sticking around did not make sense and it was a bold and ballsy decision, as the chorus of ‘Dil, Dil, Pakistan’ being performed by a saxophonist and percussionist outside Old Trafford began to take on more triumphalist overtones.

^{Pakistan celebrate the dismissal of Ben Stokes}

They could have hunkered down and hoped for the odd loose delivery, dragging the match out for as long as they could. On a worn surface, capable of shooting or leaping at any given time, that was never likely to work.

Instead, they turned to gut instinct. Buttler went hard against Yasir via sweeps both conventional and reverse, while Woakes opened his stance to the quicks and picked them off through the covers. England suddenly found rhythm. And runs.

The home side’s third fifty of their second innings came up in just 64 balls - all the more remarkable given the loss of Stokes and Pope in that time - and the partnership grew past 50 and then 100.

Pakistan went quiet in the field, and in the stands where their reserve players had been so incessantly vocal for four straight days, as England's pair took command.

When the field was in, they counter-punched off the ropes. When it came in, they manipulated the field.

And, by doing so, Woakes and Buttler added 139 for the sixth wicket. Match-defining.

Of course, cricket dictates that nothing can be simple, and so Jos Buttler was out lbw to Yasir with 21 still needed. And England, playing along with absolute commitment to the pageantry of it all, sent out Stuart Broad at No.8, who made 7 before sweeping and missing to fall lbw himself.

That didn't deter Woakes, whose final contribution of a magnificent innings was an outside edge to third man for four. Victory, out of nothing.

It is such a shame that these matches have not been enjoyed by thousands in the flesh. But don't let that distract from the fact they have entertained so many at a time of so much distress.

Cricket's doing its job this miserable summer, and this was just the latest example.

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