England wins by 3 wickets against Pakistan, will gain edge by 1-0
The hosts emerged as the winners of the first test match beating Pakistan by 3 wickets and take 1-0 lead in the 3 match test series.
Manchester, England:
The first test match between England and Pakistan ended with England emerging as winners in the deserted stadium in Manchester’s Old Trafford as audience was not allowed as a precautionary step to prevent the infection of coronavirus. The hosts grabbed the win on the fourth day of the match itself by three wickets.
Chris Woakes (84*) and Jos Buttler (75) persisted the host team England from a gruelling position to a 3 wicket win. Earlier the entire Pakistan walked out of the Pavilion for 169 in the third over of Day 4, adding 32 runs off 16 balls to start the day. The day started with the guests carrying on with batting on Day 4 with their score at 137 for eight in their second innings with Yasir Shah totting up valuable runs to the Pakistan’s scoreboard on Day 4.
Dom Sibley (36) and Joe Root (42) took the home team to Lunch at 55/1 collapsing in the afternoon session. Ben Stokes fell to Yasir Shah when England was still 171 runs away with a big journey to continue. Jos Buttler and Chris Woakes counted a quick 50-run partnership with the score 167/5 at tea and still 110 runs away from win.
They sustained in the final session, bringing the home team more closer towards a historic fourth-innings chase. Buttler’s was caught by Yasir Shah as lbw in the end, but nevertheless Woakes remained and finished the match hitting the winning runs in the final hour of the fourth day to complete an epic shifted win.
However Pakistan also saw some great performances in the match including Shan Masood’s record registering ton on the second day and Yasir Shah who gave the best bowling figures 4-66 for Pakistan on 4th Day.
The second match in the three test match series will start from13th August in the Rose Bowl Cricket Ground in Southampton.