England v Pakistan: Energised hosts everything they were not at Lord's - Jonathan Agnew
- Published
Pint-sized TMS: England dominate as Pakistan 174 all out in the second Test
Every aspect of England's play on the first day of the second Test against Pakistan at Headingley was a massive improvement on the nine-wicket defeat at Lord's.
In bowling Pakistan out for 174 and then reaching 106-2, there was intensity, energy and hunger - everything they did not have in London.
In some ways, it is infuriating England need these wake-up calls to produce something near their best cricket.
It happened last summer when they were heavily beaten by South Africa at Trent Bridge and then responded with an excellent performance at The Oval. It looks like it is happening again here.
When I played county cricket, there were times when a captain tried to energise the team, but to no avail. There were days when, as a player, you couldn't help but feel a little listless.
However, I can't imagine why you would ever feel that way playing for England - especially for the first Test of a new summer at Lord's.
More broadly, England's players should realise that things can change very quickly in international cricket.
Next summer, with a World Cup and Ashes series in this country, will be massive. Looking down the line, no-one will want to miss that because they were part of the sort of thing we saw at Lord's.
I think something I will keep coming back to as a key difference between what we saw on Friday in comparison to last week was the energy.
Even on the day before this Test began, you could see that England skipper Joe Root was really up for this.
In the morning, when I was out there for the toss, it was clear he couldn't wait for the action to get under way. He wasn't angry or defensive, he just wanted to set the record straight.
And, with the way his team performed, they have begun to do that.
Their catching was snappy, so different to the five chances that were missed at Lord's. When they batted, the recalled Keaton Jennings played nicely, combining with Alastair Cook for the first half-century opening stand since the second Ashes Test.
But it is the bowlers who England have to thank for their position of strength, all of them producing a nice, full length to get the best out of what turned out to be pretty helpful conditions.
Chris Woakes looked like what he is - a man who hasn't played much first-class cricket in a while - but he still picked up wickets, while the way James Anderson pinned Faheem Ashraf lbw was a perfect swing bowler's dismissal.
Imam nicks Broad to Root at third slip
They were led by Stuart Broad, who bowled exceptionally. Comments made by my Test Match Special colleague Michael Vaughan have been well documented and Michael said on commentary today that he thought it would be "fantastic" if Broad was "sticking two fingers up" at him.
Actually, I don't think Broad was sticking two fingers up at anyone. When I spoke to him before the game, he was in good spirits - perhaps buoyed by the fact it was only two Tests ago that he was taking 6-54 against New Zealand.
I've known Broad for a long time and he understands that he is nearer the end of his career than the beginning.
He has told me that he won't take it personally if and when I express the opinion that his time to retire has come. We're not there yet.
At the opposite end of a cricketing career, I felt Sam Curran was an interesting selection, one that took me a little by surprise. A left-arm swing bowler of no great pace, who can make runs down the order seemed like a strange choice as a replacement for the injured Ben Stokes or the omitted Mark Wood.
Sometimes these selections are made - I think back to Darren Pattinson on this ground 10 years ago.
Now, I'm not suggesting that Curran will turn out to be a one-cap man, far from it, especially because England rate him so highly. However, because of his lack of pace, it looks like he will rely on the ball swinging. If it doesn't swing, he is going to need a Plan B.
Curran take first Test wicket as Shadab pulls to Jennings
Today, though, he had the benefit of the ball nipping around, which in turn was bad news for Pakistan.
After being so good at Lord's, they struggled in the way that we have to come expect from Asian teams playing Tests in England at this time of the year.
Maybe we will never know why England were so poor at Lord's. We can only hope it doesn't happen again.
I always thought it was likely they would improve, partly because it seemed unlikely they could be so bad two weeks running.
I suspected they would win this Test and, after this first day, that is what should happen.
Jonathan Agnew was talking to BBC Sport's Stephan Shemilt
- Published25 May 2018
