Root hails England's mental strength after 'brilliant chase' at Old Trafford

RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SCRIPT

EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: CONTAINS WHITE FLASHES

VIDEO SHOWS: POST MATCH NEWS CONFERENCE WITH ENGLAND CAPTAIN JOE ROOT

SHOWS:

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (AUGUST 8, 2020) (ENGLAND AND WALES CRICKET BOARD - MUST ON SCREEN COURTESY ENGLAND AND WALES CRICKET BOARD)

1. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ENGLAND CAPTAIN, JOE ROOT, SAYING:

"I think more than anything, it shows the character in the dressing room. I think that's probably our strongest trait. There's always belief there that we can go on and win games from positions that we're not expected to. And I think today showed a huge amount of skill from a batting group on a very challenging surface in a position where we were right up against it. Two lads in particular stood up and created a partnership which was full of skill; it was full of mental strength. It was full of awareness of different passages of play. And I thought they managed that extremely well and got us into a position where the game was pretty much done by the time it was finished."

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3. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ENGLAND CAPTAIN, JOE ROOT, SAYING:

"It shows you how mentally strong he (Jos Buttler) is, more than anything. And it shows how skilful he is. We read the conditions well and we spoke this morning about having a real clear way of how we were going to play on that wicket and then being confident enough to go and commit to it. And I thought those two optimized that in the way that they played. I thought they were outstanding. And he led that partnership for the majority of it and it was extremely well supported. You look at some of the deliveries that had gone before it as well - to be able to park that and stay very calm and cow to that shows the talent that both of them have."

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5. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ENGLAND CAPTAIN, JOE ROOT, SAYING:

"Well it's certainly not the kind of wicket that we expected when we turned up on Monday - or Sunday night. It's not what we anticipated would be there. It probably wouldn't be our favourite choice of a surface to play against Pakistan on. But I think what you have to do if you want to be a consistent side around the world and to string wins together over long periods of time, you're going to have to be adaptable. I think today we showed that after three days of being behind the eight ball, behind the game, we managed to find a way to win. And sometimes that strength of character is what can do it - that's what gets you back into a game. And we showed that in abundance today."

STORY: A magnificent partnership between Jos Buttler and Chris Woakes propelled England to an unlikely three-wicket win over Pakistan in a topsy-turvy first test at Old Trafford on Saturday (August 8).

Woakes joined Buttler at the crease with England having slumped to 117-5 and seemingly sliding to defeat in their pursuit of a daunting 277 on a bowler-friendly pitch.

But between them Buttler and Woakes launched a superb counter-attack to turn the tide of the match towards the hosts with a sixth-wicket stand worth 139 runs.

In a final twist, Buttler was eventually out lbw for 75 to leg spinner Yasir Shah with England requiring another 21 for victory, thereby reviving Pakistan's fading hopes.

Stuart Broad was also dismissed lbw attempting to knock off the last four runs but Woakes finished on 84 not out.

Pakistan had earlier boosted their overnight 137-8 with 32 quickfire runs to be bowled out for 169 -- a frenetic flourish that looked to have put the visitors in control.

England had reached 86-1 in reply with skipper Joe Root looking in control, but four wickets fell quickly to leave them reeling in their attempt at the second-highest successful fourth-innings run chase seen at Old Trafford.

(Production: Kurt Michael Hall)