CHRIS WOAKES believes England’s fearless first Test victory in Multan today has given Pakistan a pitch problem, claiming “the ball is firmly in their court.”

The hosts had talked up the possibility of delivering an unusually seamer-friendly surface for the series opener, in the hope of playing to the strengths of pace pair Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah, but instead turned out one of the flattest surfaces imaginable.

For the first three days it looked as though there would be no chance of avoiding a drab draw, as bat dominated ball, but England found a way through with a triple century from Harry Brook and a double from Joe Root giving them enough headroom to push for the win.

There was hardly any real deterioration in the closing stages but the tourists still knocked over Pakistan for 220 to wrap things up by an innings and 47 runs.

The second Test begins at the same venue on Tuesday and Woakes thinks the home side must now decide whether to stick or twist.

“There was talk about green surfaces, I don’t know what that was. It just got better and better [for batting],” he said.

“The ball is firmly in their court. When it’s a home series, it’s only three matches and you lose the first you’d like to think that the next two are going to be results wickets. Whether that be green pitches or turners, we’ll see.”

Former England captain Michael Atherton, commentating at the ground for Sky Sports, was scathing about the Pakistan Cricket Board’s initial offering.

“It’s a shocking Test match pitch,” he complained.

“The only point about Test match and first-class cricket stretched over four or five days is that the pitch should change and offer a balance between bat and ball. If you don’t have that balance between bat and ball, you’re going to get a lot of poor cricket.

“Despite the fact there was a result and Pakistan did go to 82 for six in the second innings, that was not a good pitch.”