Tongue and Robinson’s high fives put England in control against Pakistan

First Test day one: Pakistan 171; England 112-2 Root and Cox put on unbroken 64 to leave England only 59 behind For all that Joe Root was playing his 167th Test match for England, and had led the side on 65 previous occasions, there can only have been a few butterflies as he pulled on the blazer and walked out for the toss on his home ground.

Root was resuming what he once described as an “unhealthy relationship” with the captaincy, while a supposedly one-off return to the job earlier this summer ended in a crushing defeat to New Zealand .

Aged 35, England’s premier batter could easily have said a polite “no thank you” when the vacancy came around again.

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