Happy Babar got retired hurt: Bess remembers his Test debut against Pakistan

England off-spinner Dom Bess, in a Sky Sports podcast, recalled how the Pakistan batsmen tried to attack him in his debut Test match at Lord’s Cricket Ground in 2018.

Bess, who played in place of injured left-arm spinner Jack Leach, went wicketless in the aforementioned match while conceding 88 runs in 20.4 overs.

The off-spinner revealed that he was happy to see the back of Babar Azam in the first innings, when the middle-order batsman got retired hurt on 68, after being hit on the arm by the delivery of all-rounder Ben Stokes.

“We had Azhar Ali at Somerset. He spoke to me after my Test debut and said that they were trying to go after me,” said Bess. “I was quite happy when it [Babar’s injury] happened because after seeing him in Taunton last year, he was whacking everyone, so I would have probably gone for 150 [runs] I reckon.”

ALSO READ: Mohammad Amir ranks Naseem Shah ahead of other Pakistan young pacers

Former England spinner Graeme Swann, who was also part of the podcast, also shared that Pakistan batsmen would try and go after him as well and lose their wickets in the process.

“Pakistan would tee off straight away. I would have to go five overs against Pakistan and would have two wickets,” said Swann. “If people are teeing off once its spinning, you are going to get caught. You can’t run down the wicket three times and hit three sixes unless you are a genius, and there aren’t that many in the world.”

Pakistan went on to win the Lord’s Test match against England by nine wickets, courtesy of a match-winning bowling performance by seamer Mohammad Abbas — who took eight wickets.