Harry Brook has sparkled in front of his own. The Yorkshireman ran the chase against Australia at Headingley three years ago and played a strong hand against India last year. On Thursday he was England’s top-scorer but the slightest misjudgment against Ali Usman’s left-arm spin on 91 was costly. He’s still waiting to take the helmet off at home, for Headingley to rise after he’s reached three figures in a Test match. He will have to keep waiting a few years.
The ground finds itself without a men’s Test for the next two summers, not part of the England and Wales Cricket Board’s allocation for the visit of Pat Cummins’s Australia in 2027. It will have to wait until 2031 for that money-spinning fixture. With Old Trafford off the list too, there will not be a men’s Ashes Test in the north next summer. Sanjay Patel, Yorkshire’s chief executive, has called the absence of men’s Test cricket over the next two years “devastating” for the club, echoing the sentiments expressed in their most recent annual report and accounts.
“Any year without a men’s Test match will unfortunately still result in a £2m-£3m loss,” reads the report, which is a neat reminder of how the red pill continues to keep English cricket’s heart beating. (It also notes how Patel’s company SMP73 Limited was paid a commission of £1.75m for services related to the sale of Northern Superchargers). Even with Yorkshire selling their Hundred franchise, granting them £52.1m and clearing their debts – radically changing their financial outlook – they still need Test cricket around here.
It goes both ways. The Test game too has certainly enjoyed Headingley, particularly in recent years. There were Shai Hope’s twin tons for the victorious West Indies in 2017, and a couple of Baz-fuelled chases against New Zealand and India. The 2023 Ashes Test was a tight one that kept that series ticking and the cherry, of course, is Ben Stokes’s unbeaten 135 in 2019 while Jack Leach wiped his specs.
Would any of this ground’s underdog magic soak itself into Pakistan’s batting here? The answer was quick. This will not go down as one of the classics, the gulf between these two sides far too significant, making it a bittersweet Friday at Headingley. After two rain-interrupted days the place found a breeze to go with the sunshine, the stands packed, but there was no contest.
Salman Ali Agha’s side crumbled in rather depressing style, failing to string together a stand of note. Mohammad Rizwan played his shots but there was always a significant chance in the morning that this would wrap before the weekend. They are used to home victories around here – this was England’s seventh successive Test win at Headingley – but they are also used to a good game. This was never close to being one.
Joe Root celebrated the perfect return, his 28th Test victory as England captain, five years on from his 27th on this ground, sealed in the afternoon sunshine. He made a few and grabbed one at leg slip to get things moving in Pakistan’s second innings. You wonder if he will play another Test at home, whether he will have the chance to feel the love again from the Western Terrace. And what will Yorkshire look like in a couple of years’ time? Patel and Colin Graves, the club’s chair, continue to push for the controversial demutualisation of this members’ club, claiming external investment is needed to improve their facilities.
Of course, while Patel grumbles about the lack of men’s action on this ground there will be a women’s Ashes Test here next June, a landmark moment to be celebrated, the red ball still finding its way here.
Brook will surely have his moment in a few years, maybe as the man leading the show. And there’s still a one-day international against Sri Lanka to play this summer … on 24 September. For now, though, it’s goodbye from Headingley.
