IT WAS the same old, same old story at Lord’s. England can’t play leg-spin for toffee.
England’s batsmen must find a way of dealing with Pakistan wizard Yasir Shah, or they could be hammered in this series.
Yasir, 30, was superb — he took six wickets in England’s first innings and the ball was hardly turning. Imagine what he could do this week in the Second Test at Old Trafford, where he is likely to gain much more grip and spin.
The batters need to take a long, hard look at themselves and learn from the one or two who played Yasir well. They did it by using a straight bat and showing patience.
Alastair Cook looked assured against Yasir and Chris Woakes appeared at ease. So it is not an impossible task.
Most of the rest showed they might not be good players of spin, but that is no excuse for throwing their wickets away.
The First Test ended a day early but some of England’s batsmen played as though they had a plane to catch.
I’m in favour of positive cricket, but there is a time and a place.
Show a bit of patience, guys, bat with some discipline.
Maybe it’s time to rediscover the Geoff Boycott art of batting. If you have to bore the c**p out of Yasir for six hours, then do it.
I know from experience that there is nothing worse for a spinner than bowling a dozen overs, landing the ball OK, but not taking a wicket.
Your fingers get tired, you become demoralised and start searching desperately for stuff. You try too hard for wickets and end up bowling bad balls.
By contrast, there’s nothing better than batsmen trying to thrash you out of the attack and self-destructing.
Suddenly, you have two or three wickets without really trying. Happy days.
England have tinkered with their bowling — James Anderson, Ben Stokes and Adil Rashid are all in the squad for Manchester — but the key is the batting. And how they deal with Yasir.
I’d be tempted to play Rashid as well as Moeen Ali. Conditions will dictate the make-up of England’s XI but the Old Trafford pitch normally helps spinners.
If Rashid and Moeen both play, then James Vince or Gaz Ballance — probably Vince — should be left out.
Some people appear to be offended by Pakistan’s joyous tribute to the soldiers at their pre-tour boot camp. Following the example of captain Misbah-ul-Haq after his ton, the whole team did press-ups on the outfield after their win.
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Some say it will bite them on the backside. Tim Bresnan tweeted words to that effect, comparing it to our Sprinkler in Australia in 2010-11.
Trouble is, if you were worried about any future backlash, you’d never celebrate anything. F
inally, a word on Mohammad Amir.
I’ve made it clear that I don’t believe he should be playing in this series and I’ve received plenty of flak.
Amir took three wickets and was still in the headlines. If he wasn’t someone convicted of defrauding the game, he would have barely merited a mention.
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