Joe Root did not want the England captaincy when it started to be floated earlier this summer. After performing the role as a stand-in for the suspended Ben Stokes against New Zealand at the Oval, his father, Matt, asked about a full-time return as a hypothetical and has since said this was met with a “no”. Root was apparently then swayed by the impending arrival of Stephen Fleming as head coach, with the pair speaking regularly before roles were finally locked down.
But watching this one-sided second day against Pakistan at Lord’s – and, indeed, the one-sided series opener at Headingley – one wonders whether being handed the keys to this pace attack was just as much of a clincher. This has clearly been a stressful week for Root, with the needless Brydon Carse affair dominating the buildup and serving as an early reminder about the curve balls a Test captain can face. As per his old man, Root spent “four hours” on the phone last Sunday dealing with the fallout when he was meant to be relaxing at a family lunch.
He was still thoroughly unhappy about it at his pre-match press conference two days later which, given his usual cheery disposition, said plenty. All that anger appeared to melt away at Lord’s on Friday, however, when, with 290 first-innings runs on the board after some tailend swish in the morning, Root’s attack unstitched Pakistan’s gun-shy batting lineup once more. Ollie Robinson claimed a remarkable four for 11 from 13 overs, Jofra Archer three for 26 from 11.2.
The visitors were bowled out for 110 to ship a 180-run deficit – with England stretching this to 261, three wickets down, before bad light brought stumps. There is a danger of getting carried away, of course, with Pakistan a struggling Test side and a calf injury sustained by Imam-ul-Haq on day one leaving only nine wickets to claim. The only real positive on the green side of the ledger was the 21-year-old opener Azan Awais holding firm for just shy of three hours while his colleagues folded inside 38 overs.
The left-hander eventually holed out off Robinson for 46 once a diplodocus tail had begun but showed guts against Archer’s pace. Yet for all that at times it was fish-in-a-barrel stuff – ideal bowling conditions thanks to cloud cover and a pitch that, while slow, offered nip – it feels reasonable to say that better teams could well have struggled also. Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad may have ridden off into the sunset – their portrait now greets dismissed batters on their way back into the pavilion – but a potent new attack is forming.
Plenty went back to the 14.1 overs that England sent down before lunch. With Root marshalling things from his new position at mid-off (or occasionally joining the catchers) it was a straitjacket of line bowling by Robinson from the Nursery End, allied with the heat of Archer from the other. Crucially, there was next to no let-up when Gus Atkinson and Josh Tongue eventually slid in to replace them.
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