Robinson and Tongue each take five as England dismiss Pakistan for 171 at Headingley
Ollie Robinson and Josh Tongue each claimed five wickets as England bowled Pakistan out for 171 on the opening day of the First Rothesay Test at Headingley, giving Joe Root a positive start to his second spell as England captain; England finished the day 112 for 2, 59 runs behind.
Root returned four years after his first stint as skipper, a period the report says left him and his team broken, and inherits a side that has won only two of its previous 10 matches following Ben Stokes' retirement and the sacking of Brendon McCullum. The new era will not formally begin until Stephen Fleming takes up the coach's role in the winter, leaving Root to stabilise the team in the interim.
Robinson set the tone by bowling Azan Awais leg before with the first ball of the match and finished with 5-51 as he exploited movement and a full length. Tongue finished with 5-46, including a late burst of four wickets for five runs from 11 balls, as England required only 48.1 overs to dismiss the tourists despite a near-two-hour rain delay and a 61 from Abdullah Shafique and 42 from Imam-ul-Haq.
Robinson was the slowest of England's bowlers on the day, averaging 78.4mph, and the first-ball dismissal of Awais was the first of Robinson's three lbws, all against left-handers. He removed Shafique with a nip-backer and completed his five when Khurram Shahzad hoiked to mid-on; it was his second five-wicket haul in as many matches since his Test comeback against New Zealand in June and came days after he and his wife Mia celebrated the birth of their first child. Of Ollie Robinson's 12 Test wickets this summer, 10 have been from balls delivered on the stumps, with just 19 runs conceded.
Tongue was England's quickest bowler on the day, averaging 87.1mph, and after finding the correct length he drew Imam into an edge to second slip. He was credited with engineering Pakistan's collapse from 91 for 2 to 171 all out, the tourists losing their last five wickets for 21 runs; Salman Ali Agha was cleaned up, Ali Usman and Mohammad Rizwan were given lbw decisions (the Rizwan decision described as marginal on DRS) and Mohammad Abbas lost his off stump. The match officials and ground staff resolved which bowler would keep the match ball by having it cut in half so both Tongue and Robinson could take a piece.
England's reply lost both openers as Abbas, finishing with 1-34, pinned Ben Duckett on the shin after an earlier near-miss for an lbw, while Emilio Gay made 33 before edging to second slip. Jordan Cox, promoted to number three in place of the injured Jacob Bethell, remained unbeaten on 23 and Root was 37 not out as they steadied the innings in company at the close.
Rain is forecast for much of Thursday and much of Friday, and England's first-day bowling and batting leave them with time to press for victory as Root begins his second captaincy spell; Pakistan have not won a series in this country for 30 years.
