Headingley. England registered a one-sided victory in the first Test against Pakistan. The host team bowled out Pakistan for 135 runs in the second innings and won the match by an innings and 103 runs. With this, England took a 1-0 lead in the three-match Test series. Pakistan's batting remained ineffective in both the innings in front of the sharp bowling of Ollie Robinson and Josh Tong and the match ended in just three days.
Pakistan team reduced to 135 runs after 171 runs
Pakistan had scored only 171 runs in the first innings. In reply, England scored a big score of 409 runs on the basis of brilliant innings of Harry Brook, Jordan Cox, Joe Root and Dan Lawrence. England got a huge lead of 238 runs in the first innings.
On the third day, Pakistan had to play a long innings to save the match, but its batsmen once again could not stand against the English pace attack. The entire team was all out for 135 runs in 37.3 overs.
Tong broke his back by taking three wickets in 11 balls
In Pakistan's second innings, Jofra Archer gave the first success to England by dismissing Imam-ul-Haq. Azan Awais returned after scoring 9 runs, while Ollie Robinson dismissed Abdullah Shafiq for 15 runs.
Shan Masood struggled for some time after scoring 29 runs, but Josh Tong's spell dashed Pakistan's hopes. After dismissing Saud Shakeel for 14 runs, he sent Shan Masood and Salman Aga to the pavilion in the same over. Tong took three wickets in just 11 balls and took Pakistan's score to 76/6.
Mohammad Rizwan put up the most resistance by scoring 41 runs in 39 balls, but Gus Atkinson ended his innings. After this, Archer ended Pakistan's innings by taking the last wicket.
Robinson and Tong took 8-8 wickets
Ollie Robinson and Josh Tongue were the biggest stars in England's victory. Robinson took 5/51 in the first innings and three wickets in the second. He won the 'Player of the Match' award by taking a total of eight wickets in the match. Josh Tong also took eight wickets in the match. After taking 5/46 in the first innings, he took three wickets in the second innings. Joffra Archer played an important role in ending Pakistan's innings early by taking three wickets in the second innings.
Pakistan's condition is bad even in the first innings
In Pakistan's first innings, Abdullah Shafiq scored 61 runs and Imam-ul-Haq scored 42 runs. Apart from these, no batsman could play a big innings. Robinson and Tong took five wickets each and restricted Pakistan to 171 runs. England's fast bowlers did not give Pakistani batsmen a chance to play freely by continuously bowling at full length.
Brook and Root gave England a big lead
In reply to 171 runs, England strengthened its hold on the match by scoring 409 runs. Harry Brook played a brilliant inning of 91 runs in 93 balls. Jordan Cox scored 73, Joe Root scored 66 and Dan Lawrence scored 51 runs. For Pakistan, Ali Usman took five wickets for 95 runs, while Khurram Shahzad got three wickets. However, the efforts of the bowlers were not supported by the batsmen.
Great return under the captaincy of Root
England is entering a new era after Ben Stokes's retirement from Test cricket and Brendon McCullum's departure from the post of coach. In such a situation, Joe Root's return as full-time Test captain ended with victory. England defeated Pakistan in all three departments – bowling, batting and fielding. Pakistan captain Salman Aga also admitted after the match that England defeated his team in every department.
Now the next clash will take place at Lord's
With this victory, England has got important points in the World Test Championship 2025-27, while Pakistan's points percentage has reduced to 19.05. The second Test of the series will be played at Lord's from August 27.
Now the biggest challenge for Pakistan is to get its batting back on track. The way its top and middle order succumbed to England's fast bowlers at Headingley, if the same story is repeated at Lord's, then making a comeback in the series could be very difficult.