Recriminations postponed as England revival masks dire day at Lord's

At around 3.30pm on Saturday afternoon, a fair few people in England cricket were sitting mightily uncomfortably.

It wasn't just the fourth-day ticket-holders. It was the coaches who can demonstrate little progress from their players, the administrators whose policies are looking more self-defeating by the day and the team who had been completely out-played in their own conditions by a Pakistan side containing several players as green as the first-day surface. An innings defeat inside three days - and ignominy - loomed. Perhaps unemployment, too.

But Jos Buttler and Dom Bess saved England's blushes. And, perhaps, a few jobs.

Sure, it remains highly likely that Pakistan, armed with a new ball on the fourth morning, will end the England resistance and that their batsmen, even without Babar Azam, will knock off a modest target. While there is some precedent for Somerset allrounders (and yes, Buttler is being termed a Somerset allrounder for the purposes of this piece) producing miracles, this one really would be up there with the very best of them. Headingley et al.

But Buttler and Bess have given England hope. They have saved them from total annihilation - yes, that is setting the bar pretty low - and, more than anything, provided some justification to England's somewhat avant-garde approach to selection going into this match.

For Buttler, of course, has not played a first-class game since September. And he hasn't made a first-class century since January 2014. This was his first first-class half-century since December 2016. He joined the England squad directly from the IPL in a move that would have seemed unthinkable even a couple of years ago.

But it was also his sixth half-century in seven games. And while the previous five were in the IPL, they meant he came into this game with confidence high. The self-doubt that is so clearly gnawing away at Mark Stoneman - a man who is currently so bereft of form he should be considered a gas - and has, perhaps, bothered Buttler in the past, was shoved into the background and he was able to vindicate his selection and the judgment of those who made it.

It will be noted, of course, that Andy Flower - the temporary director of the England team - had pointed out the dangers of allowing members of the Test squad to participate in the IPL just the previous day. And, while Flower also pointed out the benefits of IPL exposure - the experience of playing in front of big crowds, learning to deal with pressure and getting to see other top players at close quarters - you can be fairly confident that part of his conversation, or the very reasonable issues he raised, may be lost in translation. Either way, this was an innings that would have delighted Ed Smith, the new national selector, and gone a long way to silencing those (of us) who feel first-class form deserves more respect ahead of Test selection.

Certainly Buttler reckoned his IPL experiences had helped him "massively".

"Absolutely, it helped," he said. "I've had a good mindset for the last three weeks. I was feeling in good form [after the IPL] and [had picked up experience of] playing in front of good crowds in India. It was enjoyable to play in front of a crowd here that had a similar feel. It's a big occasion and I was trying to pull from those experiences and show that I can play.

"You try and use all your experience. From every tournament and every Championship game. The game is all about making good decisions and I was trying not to worry about the colour of the ball and just keep a good mindset."

For all the pre-match talk of Buttler playing his natural, aggressive game, this was an admirably calm half-century. There were a couple of those characteristic drives, with Buttler somehow able to drive back-of-a-length deliveries through the covers off the front foot, and one fairly elaborate attempt - he missed on that occasion - to slap a ball almost directly past his leg stump with the bat face reversed.

Perhaps the match situation helped him, too. With England in a desperate situation - England were 69 behind when Bess joined Buttler (they were 92 behind and seven wickets down when Graham Dilley joined Ian Botham at Leeds in 1981) there was no time for existential angst about how he should play. He was forced to confront the match situation and simply bat. And, as most batsmen will tell you, it is when their heads are clear they produce their best.

So, generally he was patient. His half-century took an unremarkable 89 balls and contained only five boundaries and he was happy to rotate the strike, pull when Pakistan attempted to bounce him, and take his time in the manner of an experienced builder of innings. Something that, for all his talent, could hardly have been said about him previously. Whatever happens now - and the forecast suggests the draw is an outside possibility - this innings should have done his self-belief the power of good.

Bess was almost as surprising a selection. He is just 20, after all, and is playing his first game at Lord's. He's only played five first-class (and three Championship) matches away from Taunton and, were it not for injury to Jack Leach (and perhaps Mason Crane), he would not be here.

Already the records he has set are noteworthy: only Denis Compton and Haseeb Hameed have scored half-centuries on debut for England at a younger age and nobody batting at No. 8 (or lower) has scored more on Test debut at Lord's. Buttler, only slightly tongue in cheek, said Bess's back-foot punches and ability to rotate the strike reminded him of Joe Root and it is only fair to acknowledge the foresight of the coaches and selectors who identified his talent. He has the sort of character England are after and, over the next day or two, he might yet have a chance to bowl England to victory, too. That really would be Simply the Bess, as they say in Taunton.

There are some mitigating factors. It does have to be acknowledged that, as the ball softened - it was changed at one stage - and stopped reversing, batting became easier. The limitations of this Pakistan attack were also exposed when they attempted a barrage of short balls without the attack to really carry it off.

You could even argue that, for the long-term good of English cricket, this partnership could prove unhelpful. It may allow all the faults earlier in the game to be hidden and the spirit of denial that has pervaded in recent times to continue.

But now is not the time for such talk. It would be churlish. Now is the time to acknowledge a terrific stand - 125 and counting - that drew the sting from Pakistan's excellent bowlers and gave England's long-suffering supporters something to cheer. We can forget about the rest of the day until tomorrow. There'll be time enough for recriminations.