Chris Woakes and Jos Buttler led England to an extraordinary three-wicket win over Pakistan in the first Test between the two sides at Old Trafford on Saturday. Finding themselves at 117/5 while chasing a target of 277, Woakes and Buttler’s ballistic 139-run stand for the seventh wicket brought England right back into the chase.
Woakes hung on after Buttler’s dismissal throughout the see-saw final proceedings on Day 4. At the end, it was an outside edge off Woakes’ bat off the two-over old second new ball that went between the Pakistani slip cordon to the boundary to bring up the winning runs.
It was Buttler and Woakes’ counter knock that stopped the Pakistani charge in the second session. The visitors looked capable of finishing the match within the first hour of the third session when England captain Joe Root, Dom Sibley, Ben Stokes and Ollie Pope all fell in a short period.
The pair continued their rampage after Tea and both soon raced to their respective half centuries. When Pakistan captain Azhar Ali pulled his field back to restrict the flow of boundaries, the batsmen started taking more singles and kept the pressure on the fielders.
The 100-run stand between the pair came up in 123 balls but then as the required runs went below 50, the run rate also went down. With that, the visitors started getting chances as well with Yasir getting an edge off Woakes that bounced just in front of Babar Azam at second slip.