Pakistan were made to toil after being bowled out for just 171 in the first innings, with England building to 239-4 at tea on day two. Joe Root and Jordan Cox both made fifties, with each Pakistan bowler managing just a solitary wicket.
“For me it was always going to be how and who in that Pakistan lineup is going to pick up 20 wickets and that's how you win Test matches,” Mumtaz said. “Abbas's pace was down to the early 70s mph, with the ball then starting to do absolutely nothing when the sun came out towards the latter part [of day one]. But you can't rely on him to get you 60 wickets to win this Test series. Far from it. What you need is a bowling attack that can bowl well in tandem and support him.”
Pakistan bowlers started in wayward fashion before Abbas landed in the right area to trap Ben Duckett in front of the stumps. Mohammad Ali also struck in his first over to send Emilio Gay packing. However, he was largely proflifate, conceding runs at a fair clip. Khurram Shahzad also wasn’t consistent in his lines after opening the bowling attack with Abbas.
“I mean the quality of Mohammad Abbas is difficult to replicate, but he needs support on the other end,” Mumtaz added. “What he needs is Mohammad Ali and Khurram Shahzad to sort of bang on on that length, and provide long periods of consistent pressure whereby he can do his magic.
“But asking him alone by himself and remember there's no fourth seamer in this XI, we've gone to Ali Usman as the spinner and he only bowled the last over of the day. When I saw the two teams on paper and sort of dissected Pakistan's batting and bowling, I really felt there's a massive massive gap with what we have right now in terms of picking up those 20 wickets.”
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