This was the kind of day of which Joe Root would have dreamed following his reappointment as England’s Test captain.The skipper marked his full-time return to the role by winning the toss, seeing a wicket fall to the first ball of the match and Pakistan subside to only 171 all out. Then, just for good measure, England’s premier batter was unbeaten on 37 at the close of play with his team only 59 runs in arrears. It felt like the ideal start for Root’s England 2.0.On a rain interrupted first day in Leeds:
The returning Ollie Robinson excelled with 5-51, dismissing Azan Awais with the first ball of the series — Pakistan’s first ‘platinum duck’ since Mohsin Khan suffered the fate against India in 1983
Abdullah Shafique led the fight back from 6-2 with an impressive 61, sharing a stand of 91 with Imam-ul-Haq for the third wicket.
But Josh Tongue returned to rip through the lower order and claim 5-46 of his own as Pakistan’s last five wickets fell for 21 runs.
England lost both openers, but an unbeaten partnership of 64 between Root and Jordan Cox took them to 112-2 by the close.
