LONDON: England captain Joe Root insisted his side could bounce back in the second and final Test against Pakistan at Headingley next week after a humiliating loss in the series-opener at Lord’s. Pakistan completed a nine-wicket win inside four days on Sunday as England suffered their sixth defeat in eight Tests. What made this latest reverse all the more embarrassing for England is that they are traditionally tough to beat at home in May, with many touring sides struggling to adjust when typically English conditions – overcast skies and green-tinged pitches – are at their most pronounced. Yet it was Pakistan, fresh from a trio of county warm-up matches and a five-wicket win over Test debutants Ireland in Dublin, who looked as if they were the home side. “We know we’re under-performing…we’ve not performed to anywhere we need to,” said Root. He was especially concerned by England’s batting. Their efforts at Lord’s followed seven winless Tests in Australia and New Zealand where England lost their first five wickets for fewer than 150 runs on six occasions, including an embarrassing 58 all out in Auckland. “It’s very disappointing,” Root told BBC’s Test Match Special. “We have been out-performed in all three departments, we have not batted well enough, first innings in particular. There have been a number of collapses recently and we have to find a way as a group.” He added: “We are ambitious, we want to win but sometimes we make poor decisions. We’ve got to be smarter with that – guys have got to find a way of scoring runs. Ultimately it’s about the number of runs you score, not how long it takes you and maybe on occasions we need to absorb a bit more pressure. Over a longer period of time that’s going to pay dividends for us. We can do that next week and we must take that chance.” Published in Daily Times, May 29th 2018.