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On a roasting day in Headingley, when you could have fry not just an egg but a whole chicken on the stone steps of the West Terrace, preconceptions were turned on their heads. England’s spinners overtook Pakistan’s and Moeen Ali, so often a desperate figure in an English shirt, finished player of the match, bubbling with the bat and carrying two wickets.
It was another new-look England team, this time without Eoin Morgan, who dropped down and stacked plenty of tops, including two legs for the first time anyone could remember – Adil Rashid was back, to mentor Matt Parkinson. Jos Buttler also returned, wearing the captain’s armband, and Chris Jordan.
Surprisingly, this was the first international T20 held at Headingley, and the pitch was sold out, with a sea of Pakistani shirts marching through the terraced streets and the flag seller doing a roaring trade in lime and green at outside the door. And the names of Saqib Mahmood, Rashid, Moeen – as well as Jonny Bairstow – received trumpets rather than pantomime boos from Pakistani supporters.
Babar Azam won the draw and decided to have a bowl, perhaps to the amazement of the bowlers, forced out as the early afternoon sun baked on the sons and daughters of West Yorkshire , and the drummers who did so well the first Friday night.
Headingley’s limits weren’t as friendly as Trent Bridge’s, but that wasn’t a concern for Jason Roy who threw himself into Imad Wasim’s second ball and hit it for six. The third also crossed the border, before Roy risked one life too much and was caught at the back point.
When Dawid Malan, whose T20 form for Yorkshire at Headingley was flaky, high-end Imad at third man short, England were 18 for two in third and struggling.
But not this England. Buttler was joined by Moeen, who was resplendent in orange boots. This was only the second time Moeen has been in the top four for England in the T20 internationals since the T20 World in 2016. And what a mix of beauty he produced: one of those – short – runs, when everything s ‘is put in place. When the near-catches and the boules fell a few inches from the bowler, when the edges hovered over the outfielders, when the loose discs hit the string.
Raised squares, cuts; four borders in one by Haris Rauf. He had just hit his zenith with a one-knee slog-sweep for six before finishing halfway, 36 on 16 balls. All the while, Buttler was hitting big and bold, hitting his 50 of 33 balls before he too fell, sending the ball straight to Babar in cover, who was knocked back by the force of the shot.
But the biggest blow was yet to come. Liam Livingstone, once again, who hit the ball off the ground twice – one rising above the three levels, and the corrugated roof, of the enormous Emerald Stand and into the rugby field, before to be exhausted, perhaps confused by his own glow.
Babar and Mohammad Rizwan began the pursuit of Pakistan as they did at Trent Bridge, both ruthless and glorious. But once Babar fell to his nemesis Mahmood, nicely caught by Malan falling forward on the edge of the circle, the momentum dropped.
Buttler waved to Moeen, whose first went nuts for 15, before – rub your eyes – leg spinners were playing both sides: Yorkshire and Lancashire, demanding googlies and big breakers.
Pakistan was stopped in its tracks, unable to bend the rope, and Sohaib Maqsood was baffled by Rashid and saw his bonds broken by Buttler, before Rashid made a stunning catch and rolled, diving to his right in the face of a Rizwan drive and scratch the ball out of nowhere.
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When Moeen grabbed two wickets in his second round – Mohammad Hafeez held tight in the rear square leg by Bairstow looking at the sun, then drifting a bullet into Fakhar Zaman’s stumps, the writing was on the wall.
Azam Khan swung wildly, missed and was thrown off Parkinson’s final ball – a richly deserved wicket – and the superb Mahmood sucked the rest as a 45-point victory ensued. The decision maker is at Old Trafford on Tuesday.
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