‘Second Division Cricket’: Michael Vaughan brutally mocks Pakistan batting at Lord’s

Pakistan’s Azan Awais sank with a bouncer (AP Photo) Pakistan’s struggles in England deepened after their batting collapsed for 110 in the first innings of the Lord’s Test, prompting a scathing assessment from former England captain Michael Vaughan.Pakistan arrived at Lord’s hoping for a reply after being bowled out by an innings and 53 runs in the opening Test. The return of regular skipper Babar Azam also brought some optimism, but his return did little to change the fortunes of the visitors.Babar managed just eight runs while Abdullah Shafique (5), Shan Masood (1) and Mohammad Rizwan (7) all fell cheaply. Opener Azan Awais offered some resistance with 46 but Pakistan were bowled out for just 110.Vaughan was scathing in his assessment of Pakistan’s batting line-up, claiming that England’s bowlers were operating without any real fear of punishment.“I’ll be brutally honest. England’s bowlers are not being challenged at all. And this Pakistan batting line-up is possibly the easiest batting line-up I’ve seen play in a long time. And not only that, I think as a bowler, I think everyone is lining up to bowl because they know the wickets are there,” Vaughan said on BBC Test Match Special.“You’re not going to get hurt. There’s no batter to hurt them. Nobody’s going to damage their pieces and it’s really ‘roll, roll, who wants to score?'” he added.The former England captain continued his criticism by questioning whether the current Pakistan batting unit is even up to Test-match standard.With England’s bowlers repeatedly finding breakthroughs, Vaughan suggested the visitors made life much easier for the hosts.“I think everyone knows Pakistan aren’t going to make big scores. So you’re only going to be there for 40 to 50 overs, so you give everything in every spell, you keep going to Joe Root and saying, Err, I’ll have another one.” There are so many wickets out there,” Vaughan said.He then made a particularly harsh comparison, suggesting that Pakistan’s batting looked more like a county Second Division side than an international Test team.“It’s that easy. They’re still doing a good job and they’re still looking very threatening. And I think this bowling attack, the way they’re playing, will challenge the better batting line-ups if they continue in this way. But this is Pakistan’s batting. Is it second-tier county cricket? There’s no way they’re batting to any standard to say that, it’s a test match,” he added.Pakistan’s batting woes were compounded by the absence of opener Imam-ul-Haq, who did not bat in the first innings after suffering a calf strain while taking a catch at Lord’s.England took advantage of Pakistan’s collapse to take the lead in the Test. The home side ended the second day on 81/3 in their second innings, extending their total lead to 261 runs.After Pakistan’s innings ended in 38 overs, England remain firmly in control of the second Test and put the visitors under huge pressure to produce a turnaround in the rest of the match.