Joe Root urged England supporters to “keep the faith” with his ailing Test side after conceding that Pakistan outplayed them in all facets of the game during the crushing nine-wicket defeat at Lord’s.
It was the first time in 23 years that England have lost the opening Test of a home summer – this previously occurred against West Indies in 1995 – and follows a horror winter during which England surrendered the Ashes 4-0 in Australia and endured a 1-0 series defeat in New Zealand.
Root, along with the head coach, Trevor Bayliss, and national selector Ed Smith, must decide whether to stick with the same squad for the second and final Test at Headingley starting on Friday, with the out-of-form opener Mark Stoneman looking most vulnerable after two failures.
Asked what his message to supporters would be, the England Test captain replied: “Keep the faith, keep trusting, keep believing. We know we’re underperforming. It’s very difficult to take as a talented group of players but we fully believe we can get to where we want. We got it wrong, we know that. These conditions suit us as well which is why it’s so disappointing.”
England were chasing the game from day one when, having won the toss, they were all out for 184. Root put that call down to a dry pitch and had no regrets per se. But Pakistan’s seam attack still exploited what live grass there was, with Mohammad Abbas named man of the match following his eight wickets across the two innings.
Root, whose side put down five catches as the tourists took control in their first‑innings reply of 363 said: “We’ve been outplayed across all three departments – and in particular, it was disappointing with the bat first up. It really hurt us not getting the score we needed. It’s easy to look at this and say: ‘Right, we need to make drastic changes.’ But it’s not just one or two guys – we were collectively all under par this week. We have to take that on the chin, learn the lessons very quickly and make sure we respond. It would be easy to go into next week feeling sorry for ourselves and think there’s no way forward – but there is.”
Of huge concern to Root and Bayliss will be that three days of intense training leading into the Test was followed by such a limp performance. Pakistan, by contrast, adapted perfectly to conditions despite a top six that boasts fewer caps collectively than Alastair Cook’s 155 and an attack similarly less experienced than Jimmy Anderson alone.
Sarfraz Ahmed, the Pakistan captain, said: “To take wickets in England you have to pitch the ball up. So credit goes to my bowlers, they bowled really well and to the plans, pitching up the ball. Especially the first day – the way Abbas and Hasan Ali bowled.
“No praise is enough for the boys especially the fast bowlers who set the tone on the first day, then our batsmen responded. I don’t think any young team would have done something like this previously at this prestigious ground.”
