First Rothesay Test, Headingley (day one of five)
Pakistan 171 all out: Shafique 61; Tongue 5-46, Robinson 5-51
England 112-2: Root 37*, Gay 33; Abbas 1-34
England are 59 runs behind
Scorecard
Ollie Robinson and Josh Tongue each took five wickets to give Joe Root the ideal start to his second spell as England captain as Pakistan were skittled for 171 on the opening day of the series at Headingley.
Returning four years after his first stint as skipper left him and his team broken, Root’s leadership was barely tested thanks to the excellence of his bowlers and fragility of the Pakistan batting.
Root won the toss, pounced on the opportunity to bowl first and Robinson set the tone by pinning Azan Awais leg before with the first ball of the match.
Robinson expertly exploited the movement on offer, relentlessly hitting a full length for his 5-51.
Tongue took longer to warm to his task but when he also found the correct length, he was also too much for Pakistan to handle. Tongue’s 5-46 ended with a final devastating burst of 4-5 from 11 balls.
England needed only 48.1 overs to dismiss the tourists and would have been done more quickly had it not been for 61 from Abdullah Shafique, 42 by Imam-ul-Haq and a near-two-hour rain delay.
It was not all plain sailing for the home side, who lost openers Ben Duckett and Emilio Gay to find themselves 48-2 in the reply.
Captain or not, Root is so often the man to steady England’s batting, and he has said his team will not be wedded to a style of play.
In the company of Jordan Cox, who is at number three in place of the injured Jacob Bethell, Root calmly took the hosts to 112-2, 59 behind.
