Stokes accepts luck factor in England's win

England produced a good bowling display on day four of the Multan Test to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the Test series against Pakistan on Monday.

On 198/4 at stumps on day three, Pakistan would have fancied their chances of chasing down a target of 355. Instead England took the last five Pakistan wickets in just over 10 overs to bowl the hosts out for 328 and win by 26 runs.

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With eight wins in their last nine Test matches, England have been rather successful since Brendon McCullum took over as head coach although their chances of making the ICC World Test Championship final are gone after a poor run at the start of the cycle.

Crediting the bowlers, Stokes also accepted that there was a luck factor involved that helped England sneak in a win on day four.

"Take a look at the conditions, it was a tricky wicket for slower bowling," Stokes said at the post-match presentation.

"We were fortunate that with the cracks opening up our seamers became effective."

"Jimmy [Anderson], Robbo [Robinson] and Woody [Wood] put in a seriously good effort, so hats off to the lads. The way they bowled throughout the game, they looked a huge threat.

"When it came down to the wire I had three guys to turn to. They bowled short spells and always seemed to pick up a wicket when needed."

Opposition skipper Babar Azam also accepted that Pakistan were below par in the first innings but maintained that they put in a good fight in the second.

"We were not up to the mark in the first innings," Babar said.

"We had a couple of soft dismissals. After that we had a fightback in the bowling and second innings we fight good, but unfortunately we did not finish it," he said after conceding the series in Multan.