The world’s number one ranked Test batter was dropped on one, and Pakistan spent the rest of the day paying for it. Harry Brook made 91 from 93 balls as England built a commanding 195 run lead at Headingley, and by the time he was finally bowled, sweeping loosely at a left arm spinner, the match had already slipped decisively from Pakistan’s grasp.
It was the kind of innings that used to define the Bazball era, and it arrived, with a certain irony, on the second day of the post-Bazball era. England are supposed to be a more measured side now, building carefully under Joe Root’s returned captaincy. Brook batted at close to a run a ball anyway, because that is simply who he is.
The reprieve, when it came, was a gift. Brook, on one, edged Khurram Shahzad to second slip, where Salman Ali Agha, Pakistan’s stand-in captain, put down a regulation chance. It was the kind of drop that haunts a team, the kind that, even as it happens, you sense will be costly.
It was.
The price of a dropped catch
There is a particular cruelty to a dropped catch in Test cricket, because the cost is never immediate. It is measured out over the hours that follow, in every run the reprieved batter scores, every partnership they build, every ounce of momentum they steal.
Brook made Pakistan pay in full. He was 55 balls to his fifty, then raced on, punishing anything loose, driving with power, guiding to third man with delicate precision. The plan to bowl short to him, with Mohammad Ali sending down 78mph bouncers, was dismantled with a savage pull for four. It was a batting lesson, and Pakistan were the reluctant students.
His dismissal, when it finally came, was the only consolation the tourists could claim. On 91, attempting to whip Ali Usman into the leg side, Brook missed and was bowled. It was the second time in as many Tests at Headingley that he had been out in the nineties, following a 99 against India last year. The hometown hundred remains, frustratingly, just out of reach.
The supporting cast
Brook was the headline, but he was not alone. Jordan Cox, the new number three, made a composed 73 before feathering behind, and Joe Root contributed a fluent 66 before falling lbw to Shahzad, angry with himself for playing across the line.
The most significant partnership, beyond Brook’s own, was the 120 he shared with Dan Lawrence, the recalled batter who marked his return to Test cricket with a solid 51. It was Lawrence’s first Test in two years, and his stay, while not flawless, was enough to cement England’s advantage.
Root and Cox had earlier shared a 150 run stand for the third wicket, and the pattern was clear: England’s batting, so often mocked for its recklessness in recent years, was functioning as a unit. No single batter reached three figures, but the collective effort was more than enough.
Pakistan’s misery deepens
For Pakistan, this was a second consecutive day of pain. They had been bowled out for 171 on day one, Robinson and Tongue taking five each, and now their fielding had let them down as badly as their batting.
The dropped catch of Brook was the headline error, but it was not the only one. Khurram Shahzad put down a caught and bowled chance off Cox, Lawrence was twice reprieved in bizarre fashion, and the fielding in the deep was ragged throughout. Pakistan’s attack, so often their strength, looked uninspired, and their fielding looked worse.
Ali Usman, the left arm spinner, was the lone bright spot, taking five for 92 and denying Brook his century. But his efforts were a footnote in a day that belonged emphatically to England.
The bigger picture
The state of this Test, and this series, is already grim for Pakistan. They trail by 195 runs with two wickets in hand in England’s first innings, and their batting, shorn of the injured Babar Azam, has shown no sign of being able to cope with the challenge.
The absence of Babar continues to loom over everything. Pakistan have built their entire batting order around him for a decade, and without his calm and his runs, the middle order has looked exposed. The dropped catch of Brook, by the stand-in captain no less, felt like a symbol of a team that has lost its way.
For England, the early returns on the post-Bazball era could hardly be more encouraging. Root’s captaincy has been assured, the bowling purposeful, and the batting, Brook’s innings chief among them, has found the right balance between aggression and control. There is a long way to go, but the early signs are promising.
What comes next
England will resume on day three looking to push their lead beyond 200 and then apply pressure with the ball. The Headingley pitch, which has offered assistance to the bowlers throughout, is unlikely to get any easier to bat on, and Pakistan’s batsmen face the unenviable task of surviving against a confident attack.
For Brook, the frustration of another nineties dismissal will linger, but the significance of his innings will not. He has just reclaimed the top spot in the world batting rankings, and his 91 was a reminder of exactly why he holds that position. The century will come, in time. For now, England will settle for the runs, and the lead, and the sense that their new era has begun as well as anyone could have hoped.
Pakistan, by contrast, have two days to find something, anything, to cling to. On the evidence of the first two, they will be clinging to very little.