England vs Pakistan: Five Talking Points from the Test series
Billed as the event of this year’s English summer, the Pakistani players arrived on the back of a demanding boot camp and looked ready to battle. On the other hand, the home team wanted to complete their set of Test trophies and take revenge for the UAE debacles.
However, Misbah’s men defied pre-tour expectations and managed to hold the hosts to a riveting 2-2 draw. Pakistan took a liking to London’s twin venues while England retained their influence in Manchester and Birmingham.
Let us take a look at five of the most fascinating takeaways from the highly entertaining series.
#5 – Is Cook auditioning for a role in the limited-overs team?
67.68 – This was Alastair Cook’s strike-rate in the 4-match series which yielded him 423 runs. Until then, the left-hander had scored exactly 10,176 runs at a strike-rate of 46.42 in his Test career.
Usually content with setting the base and only punishing loose deliveries, Cook surprisingly decided to rattle the Pakistani new-ball bowlers by hastening his pace. The visitors were gracious enough to oblige as they kept feeding him with width.
Although the updated version brought him some success, a sprinkling of the England captain’s customary watchfulness might have fetched even better returns and consequently translated to longer stays at the crease.
Who knows, maybe he was staking a claim for regaining his spot at the top of the order in ODIs. With Eoin Morgan’s side endearing themselves to the English fans by finally following the rest of the world in the 50-overs format, Cook might have wanted to jump into the bandwagon as well.