Proud Sarfraz Ahmed lauds bowlers for doing a ‘great’ job

Mohammad Abbas led the way with eight wickets as Pakistan coasted to a nine-wicket victory over England on the fourth day of the first of two Tests at Lord's on Sunday 27 May. That gave Pakistan an unassailable 1-0 lead in the series, with the second Test to be played at Headingley from 1 June.

England started the day on 235/6 in their second innings, 56 ahead of Pakistan. But all their hopes of stretching the lead to a challenging target for Pakistan were dashed when Abbas and Mohammad Amir ran through the England lower order and bowled them out for 242.

Pakistan then chased down the target of 64 with nine wickets in hand, and captain Sarfraz Ahmed was understandably proud of his team's performance.

“I'm very proud of my team, the way the young players produced their talent,” Ahmed said after the match. “When we came here we were very inexperienced, but we were very confident. We have a very good bowling side.”

There were four half-centuries in the Pakistan first innings – Azhar Ali (50), Asad Shafiq (59), Babar Azam (68 – retired hurt) and Shadab Khan (52) – but the win was made possible by the bowlers. Abbas was the best of them, and was named the Player of the Match, while Amir picked up five wickets in the match and Hasan Ali four in the first innings.

“The way the bowlers did a job for us was great. We worked really hard on our fielding. Our catching was fantastic. The Malahide game (against Ireland) was a very tough game, the way we won the match it was good for us,” Ahmed said.

Abbas, who idolises Glenn McGrath and Mohammad Asif, had a great time in his maiden outing at Lord's. “I enjoyed it a lot, Lord's a full house, enjoyed very moment of it,” he said.

Abbas, a Leicestershire player, said that the county experience had helped him acclimatise. “Thank you to PCB [Pakistan Cricket Board] for letting me come to Leicester, helped get used to conditions and helped me pitch it up,” he said. “Glenn McGrath and Mohammad Asif are my heroes. I learnt a lot from Asif, who has been a great help to me.”

Joe Root, the England captain, was displeased with the way the match went, especially as it came after a horror run on the road in Australia and New Zealand.

“Not good enough. We were outperformed in all three departments,” he said.

England's first-innings collapse – they were bowled out for 184 – cost them dear, as despite half-centuries from Jos Buttler (67) and Dom Bess (57) in the second innings, they could only set Pakistan a paltry target.

“We needed more runs in the first innings. I think we did some really good work leading into the game, making sure we were ready, but we just didn't follow through. We played some poor shots, gave some wickets away. You can't afford to do that,” rued Root.

“As a batting group, we have to find a way. You have to read the game, absorbing a bit a pressure, getting through tricky periods. We have to be a bit smarter. It's a difficult pill to shallow. We have to be better. I'm sure we can bounce back and I'm sure we can do that.”