Sarfraz ‘proud’ of charges after thrashing England

Pakistan captain praises bowlers, thanks coaching after nine-wicket win

LONDON: Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed has heaped praise on his team, coaching staff and management, saying they all played a role in team’s nine-wicket win over England at Lord’s on Sunday.

Set just 64 for victory on the fourth morning, Pakistan finished on 66 for one before lunch to go 1-0 up in this two-match series ahead of next week's second Test at Headingley.

Imam-ul-Haq was 18 not out and Haris Sohail 39 not out.

"I'm very proud of my team, the way the young players produced their talent,” said Sarfraz in the post-match presentation ceremony. “When we came here we were very inexperienced but we were very confident. We have a very good bowling side. Our coaching staff worked really hard, told us to pitch it up. The way the bowlers did a job for us was great.”



He then praised his fielders for showing up when they were needed. “We worked really hard on our fielding. Our catching was fantastic.”

Pakistan skipper added that the one-off Test against Ireland, which ended in a five-wicket victory for the Men in Green, but not in an easy fashion, served them hard lessons which eventually helped them.

“The Malahide game was a very tough game, the way we won the match it was good for us,” said Sarfraz.

England were undone by two top-order batting collapses, slumping to 184 all out after winning the toss in their first innings and declining to 160 for six in their second before fifties from Jos Buttler and Test debutant Dominic Bess prevented an innings defeat.

This was England's seventh loss in 10 Tests as their first match under new national selector Ed Smith ended in a resounding reverse.

What made this loss — just England's third defeat in a home Test starting in May — all the more galling for Joe Root's side was that they were outplayed in classic English conditions by a youthful Pakistan side, who displayed far greater discipline with both bat and ball.

England, resuming Sunday on 235 for six in their second innings, lost their last four wickets for just seven runs in 18 balls to be bowled out for 242.

That they had not already lost this match by an innings was down to a century stand between the recalled Jos Buttler and Test debutant Dominic Bess that allowed England to resume Sunday on 235 for six, a lead of 56 runs.

Buttler was then 66 not out and Bess 55 not out.

But eight balls into Sunday's play and having added only one more run, Buttler was lbw to Mohammad Abbas for 67.



England's were now 236 for seven and that soon became 241 for eight, after the tourists took the new ball, when Mark Wood edged Mohammad Amir to Pakistan captain and wicket-keeper Sarfraz Ahmed.

Stuart Broad made his Test-best 169 against Pakistan at Lord's in 2010 -- a match that became known for a spot-fixing 'sting' that saw three Pakistan players, including Amir, jailed by an English court and given five-year bans by the International Cricket Council.

But Broad's batting has gone downhill since he was struck in the face by a bouncer from India's Varun Aaron in the fourth Test at Old Trafford four years ago.

And on Sunday he fell for a duck when prodding outside off stump at Abbas, with Sarfraz holding a routine catch.

The innings ended when Amir knocked over Bess's off-stump.

Amir finished with innings figures of four for 36 and man-of-the-match Abbas had an impressive eight for 64 in the game after a second-innings haul of four for 41 in 17 overs.

It took Pakistan, who came into this match on the back of a five-wicket win over Test debutants Ireland, just 12.4 overs to reach their victory target, with Sohail hitting a six and a four against off-spinner Bess to seal a commanding victory that left England facing some searching questions.