Chris Woakes and Jos Buttler: The English duo’s 139-run partnership powered England to an unlikely victory at Old Trafford.
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During the fourth day of the first Test of the ongoing Pakistan’s tour of England in Manchester, England beat Pakistan by 3 wickets to register a nerve-wrenching finish. Given their recent streak of losing the first match of a Test series, the home team are now 1-0 up in the three-match series.
Chasing a 277-run target, England were reduced to 117/5 in the 45th over as the visitors seemed to have one hand on the match. However, it was a game-changing 139-run partnership for the sixth wicket between wicket-keeper batsman Jos Buttler and seamer Chris Woakes which turned the tables for the hosts.
In addition to the amount of runs the duo collected, the fact that they did it in only 33 overs (198 balls) found Pakistan clueless regarding both taking the remaining five wickets and containing Buttler and Woakes.
What followed was two confident batsmen putting on display a positive approach to accumulate runs. Perhaps, both Buttler and Woakes understood in the beginning that continually defending against the Pakistani attack will do them more harm than good in the fourth innings.
Buttler, who scored 75 (101) with the help of seven fours and a six, was found wanting in front of the stumps against spinner Yasir Shah to add a late twist to the intriguing days’s play. That being said, Woakes remained patient despite veteran seamer Stuart Broad’s (7) dismissal to seal the chase in the 83rd over.
Although the winning runs came off an outside edge, Woakes played an absolute gem of an innings to score 84* (120) including 10 fours. For Pakistan, Yasir Shah was the pick of their bowlers with bowling figures of 30-2-99-4.
Chris Woakes and Jos Buttler powering England to win Old Trafford Test
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