England vs Pakistan: Misbah-ul-Haq century leaves First Test finely balanced

Old but gold: Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq hits the ball past England captain Alastair Cook
Gareth Copley/Getty Image
Tom Collomosse14 July 2016

Who says top-level sport is a young person’s game?

Who needs youth when you can watch Misbah-ul-Haq, the 42-year-old captain of Pakistan, compile a magnificent hundred at Lord’s?

This was the day spectators came to see Mohammad Amir seek redemption. They left applauding Misbah, a man whose place in cricket’s pantheon is nearly assured.

It is Amir’s first Test since Lord’s 2010, when he was found to have bowled no-balls deliberately as part of a spot-fixing scam. He was banned for five years and sentenced to six months in prison. The 24-year-old will have his moment, probably tomorrow, but this was Misbah’s day.

Only two Test centurions at Lord’s have been older than Misbah – Australia’s Warren Bardsley and Englishman Jack Hobbs – when they reached their milestones in 1926.

Misbah also proved that age had not diminished a mischievous sense of humour: with his team-mates applauding from the balcony, Misbah treated them to a series of press-ups.

It was England, however, who were made to do the serious work-out. Misbah and Asad Shafiq put on 148 for the fifth wicket as Pakistan, who won the toss, reached the close 282 for six. Only once in the last 23 matches has the team batting first in a Lord’s Test been defeated.

Without Jimmy Anderson, left out even though he believed he was fit to play, England’s bowlers toiled. Chris Woakes finished with four for 45 and debutant Jake Ball also impressed. Stuart Broad bowled within himself while Steven Finn struggled again.

Anderson’s shoulder injury meant he was excluded from this game and, if the pitch remains so docile, it may be deemed a smart move. On surfaces like these, you cannot afford to miss chances and yet again, England’s fielding was flawed.

Misbah was reprieved twice. Joe Root spilled one at second slip when the Pakistan skipper had only 16. Then, after a mix-up with Shafiq, Misbah looked certain to be run out, only for Gary Ballance to throw inaccurately from cover. Had he hit the stumps, Misbah would have departed for 58.

Yet he deserved his luck. This is one of the true statesmen of modern cricket, perhaps modern sport. When he took over as captain in 2011, Pakistan cricket was in chaos.

Three players – Amir, Mohammad Asif and Salman Butt – were sent to prison that year, and also collected five-year bans for their role in the spot-fixing scandal during the Lord’s Test six years ago.

Pakistan cannot play international cricket at home, which has been considered unsafe after the terrorist attacks on the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore in 2009. Despite these disadvantages, Misbah has brought the team together and moulded them into a highly effective unit.

Pakistan were three down when Misbah reached the middle. Openers Mohammad Hafeez (40) and Shan Masood (7) fell to Woakes before Ball picked up Azhar Ali (7) for his first Test wicket.

Younis Khan made 33 before carelessly clipping Broad to midwicket. Thankfully for Pakistan, Misbah found a talented ally in Shafiq, and both men accumulated intelligently.

Misbah exploded only against the off-spin of Moeen Ali, deploying the sweep shot judiciously and moving from 75 to 91 in the space of five deliveries.

The century brought the celebration it deserved. After an easy win over Sri Lanka earlier in the summer, England face an altogether different proposition here – even though Woakes did strike with the new ball, Shafiq caught behind for 73 to give the England paceman his third wicket.

His fourth arrived from the last ball of the day when nightwatchman Rahat Ali dragged on.

MCC groundsman Mick Hunt’s latest featherbed may thwart both teams in the end but make no mistake, England are in a contest.

We have spent most of the last year praising England’s young, daring cricketers. Sometimes, though, there really is no substitute for experience.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in