Shah Spins Pakistan To Victory At Lords

17 Jul 2016 | Cricket
Yasir Shah finished with 10 wickets in the match as Pakistan wrapped up a 75-run victory over England in a thrilling Test match in Lord\'s, taking a 1-0 lead.

England, requiring 283 to win the Test after cleaning up the Pakistan tail without much trouble early in the morning, faltered throughout their chase as the spin of Shah and the swing of Rahat Ali and Mohammad Amir proved too powerful.

Only Jonny Bairstow (48), Gary Ballance (43) and James Vince (42) put up any resistance – although there was a 108-ball vigil courtesy of the impressive Chris Woakes, which ultimately bore no fruit.

Shah, who finished with 4/69 to go with his first innings 6/72 was the undoubted Man Of The Match. He got the prize scalps of Ballance, Bairstow, Woakes and Moeen Ali to decimate the England middle order after Alastair Cook, Alex Hales and Joe Root had all fallen early.

All of that after Stuart Broad rattled through the Pakistan tail to leave the visitors leading by 282 – but that was enough for victory on a turning Day Four pitch.

Cook was the first to go, nicking a feather through to Sarfraz Ahmed off the metronomic Ali for 8, before Hales chased a wide delivery and was snared at slip to the same bowler, for 16. It was a Test match to forget for the Notts opener.

Root then found Yasir to give Rahat his third and Pakistan had their tails up in front of a bouyant away following at the Home of Cricket.

Under-pressure Vince and Ballance then staved off the Pakistan resistance for a time, with an aggressive partnership of 49, but Vince – for all his elegant strokeplay – was tempted into driving at a wide one off left-armer Wahab and Younus Khan clung on at third slip.

Ballance was then bowled by a wonder-ball from Yasir that turned sharply and crashed into the Yorkshireman's stumps. It looked unlikely England could overhaul the 283 needed at 139/6 when Moeen missed a slog off Yasir, but Woakes and Bairstow dug in.

The pair chewed up 255 balls between them, blocking out Yasir's vicious leg-spin and milking the pace bowlers for singles, but when Bairstow was deceived by a flat non-spinning delivery from Yasir, Pakistan smelt blood.

Steven Finn joined Woakes when Broad came and went, bowled by Amir for 1 and the Warwickshire allrounder – who has enjoyed a stellar match with bat and ball – was then caught smartly by Younus at slip to give Yasir his 10th victim of the match.

Jake Ball was the last man to go, cleaned up by Amir for 3 to spark wild celebrations from the Pakistanis at Lord's. They capped a fantastic Test Match by celebrating with Misbah-ul-Haq's memorable press-ups on the outfield and will go into the second Test at Old Trafford in confident mood after this 75-run victory.

Pakistan come to The SSE SWALEC in Cardiff on September 4 for the finale of the Royal London One-Day International series. Click here to secure your seats.