Ollie Pope has opened on the side’s victory in the first test of England’s tour of Pakistan 2024 where they won by 47 runs and an innings.
Despite Ben Stokes missing the first test, England was able to pull off a stunning victory with Joe Root’s double century and Harry Brook’s triple centuries.
Pakistan lost all 20 wickets in the first test on day 05 of the match while England bowlers took 20 wickets for 756 runs across 203.5 overs.
Pakistan’s bowling attack which comprised star pacer Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Aamir Jamal and Abrar Ahmed could dismiss only seven England batters for a mammoth total of 823 runs.
Magic in Multan! 🙌
A famous, famous win! 🦁
Match Centre: https://t.co/M5mJLlHALN
🇵🇰 #PAKvENG 🏴 | #EnglandCricket pic.twitter.com/lKM6NWzH2A
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) October 11, 2024
While speaking in the post-match conference, Ollie Pope said, “Credit to the bowlers for the way they went about their stuff on Day 1 and majority of Day 2. The fitness they showed, and the same as Brook and Root.
“The way to win this game was to put a mammoth score on the board. It wasn’t just a hundred, but it was 260 and 315 or whatever. Credit to them, obviously the skills they have and the determination to put the team in a winning position.”
“It was awesome. Wasn’t necessarily discussed (Pakistan’s poor second innings record). When you bat first and make 550, you think you’re in the driving seat there. But when you come out to bat again, and you’re 260 behind, and the pitch is 3 days older, it’s never an easy thing to do.”
“We had a lot of different wicket-taking opportunities. The oddball was staying low, the odd ball was reversing and we got the odd ball to spin as well. It’s never an easy position to be in when you’re 260 behind.”
“Even if you bat as well as you can and make 400 in that last innings, we still would’ve backed ourselves and chased 140 or so. The way the two guys with the big runs played was real credit to them.”
“He obviously got some crucial wickets, set some clever fields and he got batters hitting shots in areas they didn’t want to do. The way Brydon bowled on debut was awesome. Charged in, showed a lot of heart and never complained once and Leach.
Coming back into the side this week – he’s had some success here before. He’s fit right back into the team. Taken some crucial wickets for us as well. That’s the game. I smoked a pull shot straight to midwicket.”
“Unfortunately, I was the one to miss out this week but it’s a team game and what matters is that we’re on the right side,” Ollie Pope concluded. Pakistan has moved to the bottom while England secured 4th position in the WTC points table.
The second match of the England-Pakistan Test series will begin on October 15 at Multan Cricket Stadium.
