England defeated Pakistan with a stunning 277 fourth-innings chase at Emirates Old Trafford. Pakistan squandered any number of chances to win the match, including a third-innings collapse from 120/6 to 169 all out when just 20 or so extra runs would have made an England victory extremely daunting. Pakistan even seemed to have England on the ropes during the chase, with the score at 117/5 after Ollie Pope had a Shaheen Afridi bouncer ricochet off his glove to Shadab Khan at gully. The unlikely duo of Chris Woakes (somewhat unlikely) and Jos Buttler (way more unlikely) took it from there and accounted for all but nine of the remaining runs needed and a shocking win. Test 2 starts Thursday at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton.
My Somerset boys (full disclosure – my family left Somersetshire in 1640) are 2-0-0 on the early Bob Willis Trophy circuit, with 40 points to lead the Central Group by 3 over Worcs. They have so many guys named Overton it’s overwhelming, although Jamie Overton is leaving to play for the more prestigious Surrey side at the Kia Oval in London at the end of the season. “Overton” is an insanely great name for a cricketer.
