The first of the three scheduled test matches between England and Pakistan took place at the Headingley cricket ground in Leeds. The English team defeated Pakistan by one innings and 103 runs. In the second innings, the entire Pakistani team scored only 135 runs. Thanks to this victory, England gained a 1-0 advantage in the series. The next confrontations between the teams will take place at Lord's, starting on August 27th.
The game revealed extremely poor play from the Pakistani team, which allowed the match winner to be determined on the third day (August 21st). Problems for Pakistan began on the first day when their first innings totaled only 171 runs. Abdullah Shafique was the only player to score a half-century, accumulating 61 runs, while the other batsmen could not cope with the fast bowlers of England.
Ollie Robinson dismantled Pakistan's attacking potential by taking five wickets in the first innings. Josh Tongue also dismissed five players. The strong performance of these two fast bowlers allowed England to take control of the match from the beginning.
In response to Pakistan's 171 runs, England scored 409 runs in their first innings, giving them a huge lead of 238 runs. Four batsmen from the home team scored half-centuries. Vice-captain Harry Brook scored the most runs with 91 runs off 93 balls, using 13 fours.
Jordan Cox added 73 runs, and captain Joe Root scored 66 runs. Dan Lawrence worsened Pakistan's difficulties by adding 51 runs. From Pakistan's side, Ali Usman was the most successful bowler, dismissing five English batsmen, but by then the hosts were already in a strong position.
After trailing by 238 runs, Pakistan needed a big second innings to stay in the game, but the batsmen failed again. Shan Masood scored 29 runs, Abdullah Shafique scored 15, and Saud Shakeel scored 14. Mohammad Rizwan struggled for some time but could not make his innings more significant. Josh Tongue, Ollie Robinson, and Jofra Archer each took three wickets.
