Following a thrilling conclusion that saw England defeat Pakistan by a score of 74 runs in the first Test between the two nations, Ben Stokes reaffirmed that his team has little interest in drawing games.
An aggressive showing with bat and ball paid off as Jack Leach dismissed Naseem Shah on the penultimate day of the tourists’ first red-ball visit to the nation since 2005.
The strategic decision-making of Stokes and captain Brendon McCullum on a flat field produced a Test match with the third-highest total of runs in history and an early declaration that set up an exciting final day.
“We’ve no interest in drawing,” he stated. “On pitches like this, you have to make things happen, [you have to] make some bold decisions. We had to entice the batters to play a shot at times.
“I think it’s maybe up there with England’s greatest away wins. The toil everyone has put in is hitting. We’ve done something very special this week.
Turns out @benstokes38 knew what he was doing with that declaration 🤨#PAKvENG pic.twitter.com/rP63HVFMjF
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) December 5, 2022
As England raced to claim their final wickets in Rawalpindi before the light faded, it was reminiscent of their famous success in Karachi in 2000, the last time they had triumphed in red-ball cricket in Pakistan.
The tourists’ ability to come together in the wake of a virus outbreak that raised doubts about whether the Test would actually go as planned makes the accomplishment all the more remarkable.
“There’s a few things you can plan for, which is the way we want to approach Test cricket,” Stokes added. “But what you can’t plan for is what happened to the squad a few days before. That seems a long time ago.
“I want to give our group of players a lot of credit for coming here and turning up, a little bit under the weather. Will Jacks got the nod to make his debut about three minutes before team-time,
“You can go through this whole Test match and pick out key individuals. I think with what we’ve had to deal with coming into this Test match makes this win feel a little bit better.”
Opposite number Babar Azam was left to rue missed opportunities for his side, Pakistan having entered the final session needing only 86 to win with five wickets in hand after tea.
“We were not up to the mark,” he added, “We had a golden chance to win this Test, but session by session we lost wickets. All credit to our bowlers, it was difficult.
“We had our opportunity but we couldn’t get partnerships in the end. We have a lot of positives, so we will try to continue that in the next match.”