Root, Cook notch tons to put England on top

Fluent centuries to Alastair Cook and Joe Root have put England in a commanding position at stumps on day one of the second Test as they look to bounce back from a 1-0 series deficit.

Cook and Root, England’s captain and vice-captain, put on 185 for the second wicket as they brought up their 29^th and 10^th respective Test centuries.

Root was unbeaten on 141 at the end of the day and his innings has been virtually chanceless, taking England going to stumps at 4-314 along with nightwatchman Chris Woakes (2).

Cook was bowled by a Mohammad Amir delivery that kept low off the Old Trafford pitch for 105 just before tea to end an otherwise dominant knock from the England captain, who brought up his triple-figures off 157 balls and struck 15 boundaries. 

He feasted on any width from the tourists’ pacemen with his trademark cut-shot and ably negotiated the threat of Yasir Shah, while Root too rarely looked troubled by the Pakistan bowlers and played a number of eye-catching strokes. His back-foot punches in particular delighted the Old Trafford crowd.

After England won the toss and elected to bat on a warm morning in Manchester, Mohammad Amir proved a handful with the new ball.

The pace sensation had Cook edging through the slips twice in the first over of the day, before he cleaned bowled Alex Hales with a devastating inswinger, only three balls after the opener had been dropped in the gully off Amir.

Batting in his new position at first-drop, Root got off the mark with a superb straight-drive off Rahat Ali as he and Cook proceeded to dominate the Pakistan attack for most of the first two sessions.

Yasir Shah extracted some turn out of the Old Trafford pitch, traditionally one of England’s more spin-friendly tracks, but Cook and Root handled Pakistan’s danger-man expertly.

They waited to pick off his half-volleys and long-hops, which admittedly were more frequently offered up by Yasir here than they were at Lord’s, and the left/right-handed combination disrupted his rhythm by constantly rotating the strike.

Root fell into Pakistan’s short ball trap in England’s second-innings in the first Test when he pulled Rahat to straight to deep square-leg, and the 25-year-old was greeted with two men back on the hook with Wahab operating.

But he ignored Wahab’s bouncers and looked assured off the back foot to the Pakistan quicks while mostly eschewing the slog-sweep that was his undoing against Yasir in England’s first-innings at Lord’s.

The more watchful partner in his stand with Cook, Root at one stage went 46 balls without hitting a boundary. He did however manage to find the fence to bring up his hundred, pumping the air in celebration after driving Yasir through the on-side in the final session.

Cook was rarely troubled in his four-hour stay at the crease and his dismissal, toeing one from Amir into his stumps not long after reaching triple-figures, seemingly came out of the blue.

Amir was quite clearly the pick of the Pakistan bowlers, showing glimpses he’s developed into a world-class fast-bowler and he seemingly finds greater control with each spell.

He was undeterred by audible chants of “no-ball!” from rowdy parts of the Old Trafford crowd, a reference to his spot-fixing history in this country. It’s the type of taunt that was expected prior to this series but wasn’t particularly forthcoming from the polite patrons at Lord’s.

The 24-year-old should have had his third wicket early in the final session when James Vince, on 6, edged to Younis Khan at second slip but the veteran grassed the chance to give the right-hander an early life.

It wasn’t too costly to Pakistan, as Vince nicked a wide one off Rahat for 18 to put his position under further scrutiny after a lean start to his Test career.

Gary Ballance joined Root in the middle and put on 73 for the fourth-wicket before Ballance tried to cut one too close to him, chopping on for 23 to give Rahat his second scalp.

Root showed no signs of slowing down as the final session unfolded, continuing to deny the Pakistan bowlers and waiting for their bad balls. On 129, having been at the crease for most of the day, Root worked Yasir through the leg-side and sprinted up-and-back to return for two, a sign of his run-scoring hunger as much as his fitness.

Wahab had no-ball troubles towards the end of the day and at one stage he overstepped the front line three times in an over.

Misbah-ul-Haq was constrained at times by only having the four frontline bowlers to call upon, especially while Cook and Root had the measure of Yasir, who bowled 31 wicketless overs. The Pakistan captain will be hoping his bowlers can create more chances tomorrow morning than they did today.