Pakistan became the first team ever to achieve an unwanted feat during their crushing defeat against England in the first Test at Headingley on Friday. The visitors lost their first wicket with the team score on zero in both innings, as Azan Awais was dismissed lbw by Ollie Robinson in the first innings, while Imam-ul-Haq was dismissed without scoring in the second innings. While a team losing its first wicket with the score on zero is not uncommon in Test cricket, Pakistan now lead this unwanted list of it happening twice in the same game with seven such instances, followed by England (5), Australia (4), India (2) and New Zealand (1).
Pakistan’s batting woes deepened as they were bowled out for just 135 in their second innings to suffer an innings and 103 runs defeat against England in the opening Test of the series, with the hosts wrapping up a comprehensive victory inside three days.
Pakistan, having scored only 171 in their first innings, could not resist another fierce session from England’s pace attack, and Jofra Archer, Josh Tongue and Ollie Robinson between them took nine wickets as England secured a dominant win and thus obtained important points in the ICC World Test Championship 2025–27 cycle.
Robinson was primarily responsible for Pakistan’s failure and closed the match with the impressive figures of 8/80, earning him the award of Player of the Match.
When Pakistan started their second innings they were facing a severe deficit since England had gained a 238-run lead in the first innings. The troubles of the visitors reappeared almost straight away when Archer took a wicket in his first over, getting Imam-ul-Haq.
Shan Masood tried to launch a counter-attack with several boundaries, but England kept on applying pressure. Abdullah Shafique was then got out when he edged while defending, and Pakistan were in even greater difficulty before lunch.
Following that period the situation worsened as Tongue broke up Pakistan’s middle order, Saud Shakeel being the first to fall, then the England seamer got both Masood and Salman Agha in the same over and left Pakistan facing defeat.
Although Mohammad Rizwan put up a certain amount of resistance with 41 runs, Robinson still managed to make several breakthroughs at the other end, and Gus Atkinson finally ended Rizwan’s innings before Archer completed it by getting the last batter out in the 38th over.
Previously Pakistan had been all out for 171 after they were asked to bat first, with Robinson securing 5/51 and Tongue taking 5/46. In reply England were headed by four half-centuries from their middle order, Jordan Cox scoring 73, Joe Root 66, Harry Brook 91 and Dan Lawrence 51.
The joint effort enabled England to establish a lead of 238 runs, even though Ali Usman took 5 wickets for 95 runs for Pakistan.
Archer was also helpful with the bat during England’s first innings, having helped increase the lead to more than 200 on the third morning before Pakistan ended the innings with the wicket of Jamie Smith, who scored 25.
The decisive win by England represents a solid beginning to Joe Root’s second term as full-time Test captain, and it also improves England’s position in the World Test Championship table, England’s rank advancing as Pakistan have dropped below the West Indies and now find themselves at the bottom of the table with a points percentage of 19.05.
The two teams will now play the second Test at Lord’s, which will start on August 27.
(With IANS inputs)
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