The Buttler did it! England seal famous victory

Under-fire wicketkeeper batsman Jos Buttler and allrounder Chris Woakes have led England to a memorable three-wicket win over Pakistan in the first Test at Old Trafford.

Chasing 277 to win, England's hopes of victory were seemingly over when they slumped to 5-117 before Buttler and Woakes added a decisive 139-run partnership.

It's the second-highest successful run chase at Old Trafford, the highest ever in Tests between the two sides and ended England's unwanted recent record of five consecutive defeats in the opening Test of a series.

Buttler (75 from 101 balls) had been under intense scrutiny to keep his spot in the side after a run of low scores and a forgettable performance behind the stumps in this match.

But his match-winning performance here, combined with a fighting knock of 38 in the first innings and score of 67 in the third Test against the Windies last month, has surely saved him for now.

The 29-year-old, whose Test average with the bat since 2019 had dipped below 30, conceded he feared he was playing for his place in the side.

"Definitely thoughts go through your head, like potentially if I don't score any runs, I've probably played my last game," he told Sky Sports.

"Those kinds of things are in your head, but you've got to try and shut them out and try and focus on the here and now and play the situation and I'm pleased that I was able to do that.

"If I'd taken those chances (with the gloves), we'd have won two hours ago. I'm very aware I didn't keep well, I missed some chances and at this level you can't afford to do that no matter how many runs you score. You've got to be better, I know that."

The day was a breakthrough for Woakes, too, who has been in hot form with the ball but his highest score in his previous 17 Test innings had been 37 not out. He finished unbeaten on 84 here, sealing the nail-biting win after Buttler had been dismissed with 21 runs still required for victory.

While the partnership between Buttler and Woakes ultimately won England the match, their fightback with the ball late on day three when Pakistan lost 4-36 was also a pivotal period in the game.

Day four started with Pakistan leading by 244 runs and their tail pilfered another 32 in quick time, thanks to Yasir Shah's 33 from 24 balls, before they were finally bowled out for 169.

Seamer Mohammad Abbas got the early breakthrough by trapping opener Rory Burns in front and despite a 64-run stand between Dom Sibley and skipper Joe Root, Pakistan's bowlers kept the run rate to a minimum and created enough chances to give the impression that a flurry of wickets was imminent.

And so it proved; both set batsmen edged to slip – Sibley off Yasir, Root off Naseem Shah – before Yasir (4-99) got the key wicket of Ben Stokes (caught behind on review) and Ollie Pope copped an unplayable delivery from Shaheen Shah Afridi that he spooned to gully.

But after a collapse of 4-31 and with 160 still needed for the win, Buttler and Woakes launched their memorable rescue act to guide England to a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

The pair scored at a rollicking rate; Buttler hit seven fours on his way to a half-century from just 55 balls, while Woakes hit eight boundaries as he brought up his fifty from 59 deliveries.

After Pope was dismissed by a nasty, lifting ball from Shaheen, Buttler said the pair made a conscious effort of pushing the game forward, which also meant Pakistan only had 2.1 overs with the second new ball at the end of the day.

"After I saw that ball to Popey, it felt like if you just try and stay in and bat the time, you're going to be a bit of a sitting duck," Buttler said.

"So I wanted to be positive, try and put pressure back on Pakistan and try and replicate a one-day chase.

"We didn't want to leave, say, 50 with the new ball to come. I thought that was going be tough work, having a harder ball, seeing the indifferent bounce, so try and break it down to try and score at four an over.

"Joe (Root) actually said before, 'remember who you are, you enjoy chasing targets down, try to limit it to a one-day game'.

"A game like today really suited me and suited my eye, in terms of the run chase and breaking it down to more of a one-day game and trying to tick runs off and get us to the finishing line."

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