Pakistan beat England in First Test at Lord’s as Jonny Bairstow leads brave failed resistance
Yashir Shah takes four wickets on a crumbling surface to take 1-0 lead in series as Alastair Cook's side fall short of target
ENGLAND failed to pull off their best-ever run chase at Lord’s as Pakistan’s boot-camp boys stole a march in the series.
The hosts were set 283 to win the First Test, which would have been their record fourth-innings winning total at the Home of Cricket.
But they fell 75 runs short, with shamed Mohammad Amir fittingly taking the final wicket of Steven Finn.
And Pakistan then celebrated in front of the iconic Lord’s pavilion by assembling a military-style formation and doing press-ups, in homage to the army camp they had before this tour.
Misbah-ul-Haq’s well-drilled outfit now have a 1-0 lead in the four-Test series ahead of Friday’s Second Test at Old Trafford.
And England, who ran out such easy victors against Sri Lanka earlier in the summer, now know they will have their work cut out if they are to get the better of the in-form tourists.
Yasir Shah was once against Pakistan’s bowling star, as the leg-spinner took 4-69 to finish with ten wickets in the match.
But it was Rahat Ali that did the early damage by dismissing England’s top three of Alastair Cook, Alex Hales and Joe Root.
James Vince, Gary Ballance and Jonny Bairstow all made it into the 40s, yet none of them were able to register a half century.
And when Bairstow was bowled by Shah, England’s last hope of victory faded, leaving Amir to clean up the tail in his first Test since his five-year ban for spot-fixing here in 2010.