England pacers cut Pakistan Test match ball in half after first innings; here's why
England pacers Ollie Robinson and Josh Tongue shared the wickets and later shared the match ball after both finished with five-wicket hauls on the first day of the first Test against Pakistan at Headingley on Wednesday.Robinson took 5 for 51 and Tongue claimed 5 for 46 as Pakistan were bowled out for 171 on the first day of England's first Test under Joe Root's second stint as full-time captain following Ben Stokes' retirement from international cricket.England ended the day on 112 for 2, with Root unbeaten on 37, trailing Pakistan by 59 runs.Robinson gave England the perfect start by taking a wicket with the first ball of the match.
He went on to remove four Pakistan top-order batters before Tongue completed the innings with the remaining wickets.Since both bowlers took five wickets, they decided to split the match ball instead of one player keeping it as a souvenir. A member of the Headingley ground staff cut the ball into two halves for them.Showing one half of the ball during his post-match press conference, Robinson explained how the idea came about."As we were walking off Tonguey said, 'I think we should split it'.
I was like, 'yeah, we should actually do that, I think it'd be quite cool'.""I said 'do you reckon they'll be able to do it?' and within five minutes they brought it back up and it was done.""It’s one of those things that you don't really have too many halves of….half a cricket ball. It's something we'll never forget really and it's not too often two guys get five in the same innings, so it’s a nice gesture and something to remember."Earlier this summer, Robinson took a career-best seven wickets in an innings against New Zealand, his first Test appearance in more than two-and-a-half years.The 32-year-old then missed the second Test against New Zealand because of a knee injury and was not selected for the third Test at Trent Bridge despite being available."It was frustrating not to be able to play at the Oval, it was just a bit of a freak training injury and then I was available for Trent Bridge but not selected.""I was ready to go but I suppose that's part of professional sport, isn't it?
I've just worked really hard on a bit more fitness and a bit more skill, so it's nice when it comes off on days like today."Get the latest Sports News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.