'Pakistan Are A Poor Side': England Great Delivers Brutal 'Failure' Verdict

Former England cricket team fast bowler Stuart Broad delivered a brutal verdict on Pakistan as he described them as a 'poor side'. He also backed England to complete a 3-0 clean sweep in the ongoing three-Test series after Pakistan got off to a horrible start in the first Test match. During his appearance on the The Love for Cricket Podcast, Broad was extremely critical of Pakistan's current Test team and said that England should dominate the series. They are a poor side, they are not a really good side. You would imagine and you'd think that England should win 3-0. And pretty comfortably," Broad said.

"But that isn't guaranteed. But if England don't come out with a Test match series win, it really is a huge failure," he added.

Meanwhile, Harry Brook punished Pakistan for dropping him at the start of his innings Thursday with a quickfire 91 that strengthened England's grip on the first Test at Headingley.

England were 366-8 at stumps of a rain-marred second day, 195 runs ahead of Pakistan's meagre first-innings 171.

The only sadness for the crowd was that neither of their local Yorkshire heroes were able to post a century, with skipper Joe Root out for 66 before Brook fell late in the day. 

Dan Lawrence, recalled after the international retirement of former captain Ben Stokes, made 51 and put on 120 with Brook in England's first Test of the post-Bazball era.

Jordan Cox (73) and Root had earlier shared a third-wicket stand of exactly 150 before falling in quick succession to give Pakistan a glimmer of hope in the first of this three-Test series. 

Brook, however, should then have been out for one when he edged Khurram Shahzad only for diving Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha, leading the side in place of the injured Babar Azam, to drop the chance at second slip.

Brook cashed in and was in sight of what would have been his first Test century at Headingley -- and 11th in 39 matches overall -- when he tried to turn left-arm spinner Ali Usman legside only for the ball to hit his leg before rattling the stumps.

The 27-year-old faced just 93 balls, hitting 13 fours.

It was the second time Brook, the number one batsman in the red-ball rankings, had been out in the 90s of a Test at Headingley following his 99 against India last year.

Usman was the pick of an otherwise largely ineffective all-pace attack with 5-92 in 23 overs, his maiden five-wicket haul in Test cricket coming in just his third match.

After dismissing three specialist batsmen, Usman removed tailenders Gus Atkinson and Ollie Robinson with successive deliveries before Jofra Archer survived the hat-trick ball. 

England, following a washed-out morning session, resumed on 112-2 after pacemen Robinson (5-51) and Josh Tongue (5-46) had shared all 10 Pakistan wickets between them on Wednesday.

(With AFP inputs)

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