Under the heavy, dark gray skies of Headingley, with floodlights cutting through the gloom and intermittent rain stalling play, Pakistan left-arm spinner Ali Usman etched his name into the history books.
Collecting 5 for 92, Ali Usman claimed his maiden Test five-wicket haul and became the first visiting spinner to take five wickets in an innings on English soil since Australia's Ashley Mallett achieved the feat back in 1972.
Yet, despite reaching a career milestone that had eluded overseas spinners for over half a century, Usman offered little in the way of self-congratulation.
“Our bowling was not up to standard today, including myself,” Ali Usman admitted after the day's play. “I took five wickets, but we've given away too many runs as a bowling unit. We'll work on our mistakes and try not to repeat them.”
Ali Usman on squandering Favorable Conditions
Early in the day, the conditions were ideal for Pakistan's bowling attack. A gray overcast sky provided ample help for seamers, who did not deliver on the given opportunity.
England's batsmen took a huge bite out of Pakistan's total, registering a lead of 195 with two wickets in hand. Brook played a storming 91 off 93 balls, further adding to his brilliant Test average of 84.72 against Pakistan. Later, Joe and Jordan added a fluent 150-run partnership for the fifth wicket.
As soon as the new ball was tossed up by Ali Usman, he realized that the conditions were perfect for extracting turn.
“It was good when I started bowling today; the ball was catching a decent amount of grip; that made me think that there is something in it for the spinner as well. I think hitting the right areas was the key to getting wickets,” He explained.
Navigating through England's aggressive lower order was a challenging task. “I was trying to bowl around the stumps; if the batsmen got any width, they punished me. Dan Lawrence was struggling against good spin; he mistimed one sweep shot, but Brook is a very good player of spin, so I was targeting him. He had to get into good positions to drive. As he was getting into the good positions, I just bowled a short delivery, which he had to play forward and he was bowled,” he added.
Chasing Down The Target
With England dominating the proceedings, Ali Usman was looking forward to the pitch conditions to change and assist Pakistan's tireless spinners.
“I think, day by day, the pitch will start slowing down as well. It is a good pitch, but it will slow down day by day. It will take a lot of turn as well in the next three days.”
Ali Usman was confident that despite the challenging target, Pakistan will be able to fight back in the final two sessions.
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“In the batting, we will look to go as far as possible and make as many runs as possible. Our approach should be positive. We have to take it session by session; we made some good starts in West Indies and the warm-up match. We have good batters in the pipeline, so they are expected to perform well, and we are hoping to make a turnaround in the match.”