England are expecting Pakistan to produce "result wickets" in the remaining two Tests of the series after the hosts suffered a mortifying loss in the first match in Multan despite dishing out a batting paradise and scoring 556 in their first innings.
England's star allrounder Chris Woakes said that the loss on a flat deck may force the hosts to produce either green or raging turners in the next two matches to be played in Multan and Rawalpindi.
"There was talk about green surfaces," Chris Woakes was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo after England's win in Multan. "I suppose it did have a tinge of green on day one, but it just got better and better. The ball is firmly in their court. When it's a home series and it's only three matches, and you lose the first, you'd like to think that the next two are going to be result wickets, whether that be green or turners. We'll see."
Woakes is pleased with the support of his team management. Though he bagged just two wickets in the Test match, they were big breakthroughs in the form of Babar Azam (first innings) and Abdullah Shafique (second innings) who had scored a century in the first innings.
Woakes emphasized that on wickets as placid as the one dished out for the first Test, a bowler needs to hold one end up and work in tandem with his partner operating at the other end.
"I probably didn't think I was going to get another opportunity to do this," Woakes said. "In a way, I'd probably given up on it. But when you get the backing of the dressing room, of Ben and Baz (Brendon McCullum), you feel 10 feet tall and like you can go out there and win games of cricket for England. I'm never going to average 25 in these conditions but I don't think many would.
"Thankfully in this Test match, I've been able to make a couple of breakthroughs with the new ball on a wicket which was offering pretty much bugger all, so I'm pretty pleased I contributed. There are going to be periods in these conditions where you do have to hold and you're working for the guys at the other end."
