AP, England :
England dismissed Pakistan for 234 on Monday to win the second test by 330 runs with a day to spare and level the four-match series 1-1.
Pakistan’s batting crumbled against England’s impeccable seamers with the second innings ending after tea as the tourists chased an unlikely record target of 565.
Chris Woakes grabbed 3-41 to stretch his wicket tally to 18 in two test matches while James Anderson and off-spinner Moeen Ali also picked up three wickets each.
Opening batsman Mohammad Hafeez top-scored with 42 but Pakistan always looked vulnerable against England’s all-time leading wicket-taker Anderson, who missed his team’s 75-run defeat at Lord’s in the first test due to injury.
“We were really good, there wasn’t too much that could’ve gone better,” England captain Alastair Cook said.
“Really pleased about the character, the manner in which everyone batted, we had a better tempo.”
Earlier, Cook (76) and Joe Root (71) smashed rapid unbeaten half centuries before England declared its second innings at 173-1 for an overall lead of 564.
With more than five sessions to survive, Pakistan’s batting woes continued when Anderson dismissed left-hander Shan Masood in only his third over. Azhar Ali also struggled at No. 3 before he was trapped leg before wicket as Pakistan slumped to 25-2 before lunch.
Hafeez was caught close to the wicket off Ali before Younis Khan had an uncharacteristic swipe at the off-spinner and holed out at mid-off as Pakistan continued to lose wickets at regular intervals.
Captain Misbah-ul-Haq (35), who scored a half century in Pakistan’s first innings of 198, tried to resist before he dragged Woakes back onto the stumps before tea.
And when Sarfraz Ahmed fell soon after the break to Woakes, England had little problems in polishing off the long Pakistan tail.
“It’s the good and bad thing about our team, we can have a result like this after a good game but we can also bounce back from it,” Misbah said.
Pakistan was always catching up once Joe Root’s double century spurred England to declare at a massive 589-8 in the first innings.
“You need to keep the opposition to 350. Near 600 it’s really difficult to come back,” Misbah said.
“The way we batted in the first innings, we could have scored more than 350-400 (but) we were thrown out of the game.”
England’s only worry ahead of the third test, starting Aug. 3 at Edgbaston, is that it might lose Ben Stokes.
The all-rounder had to walk off the field with a calf injury while bowling his sixth over, but it didn’t cost England much as Anderson and Woakes spliced through Pakistan’s batting.
