Harry Brook scored an excellent 91 runs from 93 balls, keeping England well on top of Pakistan in the first Test at Headingley despite late wickets. At stumps on day two, Joe Root's side had progressed to 366 for eight, with a lead of 195 runs, making victory inside three days a possibility.
Brook's near-century and late collapse
Brook had agonisingly missed out on a century by one run against India at Headingley last summer. This time, against a ragged Pakistan side that had handed him a life second ball, he looked set to end a year-long wait for his 11th Test century with a first at his home ground. However, with 91 runs to his name, Brook rocked back and attempted to push the left-arm spin of Ali Usman through vacant midwicket, only to swipe at fresh air and hear the ball cannon onto his stumps. Brook came into this match as the world's No 1-ranked batter, but this particular local peak remains elusive.
Despite Brook's frustration, the late wickets were not hugely damaging to England's position. Joe Root (66), Jordan Cox (73), and Dan Lawrence (51) also made unconverted half-centuries across the 57 overs of play that were possible. The team's progress was strong, with a lead of 195 runs putting them in a commanding position.
Pakistan's struggles and missed opportunities
Pakistan had a chance to regroup after a ruinous first day, with rain halting the match until 2.45pm. However, they failed to capitalise on helpful conditions. Their quicks failed to match Ollie Robinson's relentless line and length, chances went begging, and their ground fielding was borderline slapstick. Summing it up was Usman trying to stop a boundary with his boot and kicking it over the rope. At times, this seemed beneath Mohammad Abbas and Mohammad Ali, who would expect better off their own bowling.
Pakistan actually had a sniff here. Root and Cox had looked largely untroubled after resuming on 112 for two, a stand of 150 pushing England past parity and into the lead. Cox in particular looked assured in his second Test, the new No 3 owning the space and feasting on a string of freebies. But when both men fell in successive overs against the run of play—Cox edging Usman behind, Root trapped lbw falling over to the previously wayward Khurram Shahzhad—England were suddenly four wickets down, just 31 runs ahead. Here was an opportunity that Pakistan simply had to grasp.
Brook's mature knock and Lawrence's partnership
Brook immediately sent a wafted edge into the slip cordon second ball, only for the stand-in skipper, Salman Ali Agha, to dive across Imam-ul-Haq and put it down. Agha left the field for treatment, and Brook scarcely looked back thereafter. At the other end was Lawrence, a player handed another stab at Test cricket after becoming collateral damage during the Bazball experiment, and between them they put on 120 more runs for the fifth wicket. Usman was getting grip from the surface but struggled with control, while Pakistan's medium-fast seamers continued to toil.
A further opportunity came and went for Pakistan, with the upshot being slapstick. Lawrence danced down to Usman on 37 and was struck on the pad, with the rebound presenting Agha with a chance to run him out from slip. But the throw crashed into Mohammad Rizwan's back as the wicketkeeper continued his appeal for lbw. Lawrence eventually fell trying to mow Usman over cow corner and sending it skywards off the top edge, the latest in a string of anticlimactic moments in the gloom.
Headingley's future and Brook's wait
Root could have started his second stint as captain with a century, while the effervescent Cox could have announced himself to the world. But none of these near-misses compared to the collective sigh that met Brook's late dismissal. Despite being the best pitch in the country, and a place positively dripping in history, this is Headingley's last men's Test match until 2029. Unless Pakistan can deliver the unthinkable with the bat second time around, Brook's wait for a century on his home ground is going to be a long one.
