England have pulled off a momentous three-wicket win to stun Pakistan in the opening Test at Old Trafford.
A stand of 139 between Chris Woakes (84 not out) and Jos Buttler (75) for the sixth wicket helped the hosts overhaul a target of 277 on a wearing track against some high-class bowling.
England were on the rocks when the pair came together after lunch with their side reduced to 5-117 and Pakistan looking well set to win the match.
Woakes has been in sensational form with the ball all summer but his remarkable knock saw him turn match-winner with his highest score in more than two years.
Buttler owed a debt to his team after three costly misses behind the stumps in the first innings and paid them back in style with a superb counter-attacking innings to vindicate the selectors' ongoing faith.
Only once before has a higher fourth-innings score won a Test in Manchester, Michael Vaughan's side against New Zealand in 2008, and this now joins last year's 'miracle of Headingley' as an unlikely fightback for the ages.
The day began at full throttle with Pakistan's innings wrapped up for 169 in a 16-ball blur that contained 32 runs and two wickets.
A lunch score of 1-55 for one represented solid progress for England's fragile top order, with Dom Sibley and Joe Root carefully negotiating a much-anticipated first spell from Yasir Shah.
The steady accumulation continued in the afternoon until Sibley broke ranks, swinging hard when Yasir tossed one up to the stumps and squirting to slip. for 36.
Having broken the stand at 64, Pakistan went on the charge as England's middle-order engine room crumbled in taxing conditions.
Root gave it away on 42, shaping to steer Naseem Shah to his favourite outlet at third man but fending a rising delivery to Babar Azam.
Ben Stokes, so often England's matchwinner, was unable to answer the call this time as Yasir beat him on nine, with a light brush of the glove on the way to Mohammad Rizwan.
The writing appeared to be on the wall when Shaheen Afridi got one to explode off the pitch at Ollie Pope (7) and looped to gully.
With four wickets tumbling for 31 runs, the winning line now seemed distant and the pitch wholly unreliable.
But Buttler and Woakes attacked and put on 50 in 49 balls before tea, egging each other on with a series of increasingly dazzling shots.
The tea break might have broken the spell but a serene on-drive and deft late cut from Woakes brought the target down to double figures.
Pakistan slowed the rate by pushing out the field but the batsmen shifted accordingly, ticking off the century stand in little more than 20 overs then dragging the required runs under 50.
In desperation Pakistan burned their last two reviews in the space of eight balls before a slog-swept six from Buttler brought the line ever closer.
Yasir guaranteed England did not get there without a scare, winning another close call against Buttler and then seeing off Stuart Broad too, but Woakes remained to hit the winning runs.
Australian Associated Press
