NASSER HUSSAIN: All hail Azhar the tinkerman! Ali’s adjustment means he has got it spot on here

It’s always difficult to know the right time to make a technical change and if a player tinkers too much during a Test series they can create problems for themselves. But Azhar Ali has got it spot on here.

Let’s be honest, the Pakistan captain has been a walking wicket in England throughout his career because every time he has come here bowlers like Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad and Chris Woakes have targeted his pads.

All too often Azhar got his front leg in the way and was then falling over the crease with his bat coming down at a bad angle. So the bowlers have worked to get his leg across his stumps before producing a nip-backer that gets him plumb lbw.

Azhar Ali has got it spot on here by making a technical change during a Test match series

He has been a walking wicket in England with the likes of Chris Woakes targeting his pads

So there comes a time when, if you keep getting out the same way, you have to think ‘I’ve got to make an adjustment here.’ Azhar has done that between the last Test and the start of this one and his slight adjustment has been moving his front foot out of the way in his stance, just by a couple of inches, and opening his hips up a bit.

That means he has not been planting his leg in front of off-stump – instead it is in front of middle or middle and leg – and he has looked a lot more confident when England have been targeting those pads.

People will say ‘if it is that simple and he can score a century now why didn’t he do this before?’ but it is not that straightforward. Firstly it doesn’t feel natural at first to change something that has served you well everywhere else throughout your career. And also any change you make can then lead to other forms of dismissal.

That’s what has happened to Rory Burns in this series. Like Azhar he has been planting his leg outside off-stump and was an lbw candidate so he is now trying to get that leg out of the way and the result is that he’s nicked a couple to the slips.

But the Pakistan captain has been moving his front foot out of the way in his stance to help him

Jos Buttler, meanwhile, is another example of someone who has made a change that has worked while he has been playing at the highest level. At the start of this summer we saw Buttler against the West Indies on this ground with a heavy head and with his balance all wrong. When he was bowled by Alzarri Joseph he ended up almost falling over.

All Buttler did was slightly tinker so he was a little more open in his trigger movements and he could hit mid-on and straight back past the bowler a bit more. And as soon as he drove Mohammad Abbas early on in his 152 in this final Test you could tell he was better balanced and was in a much better position.

Azhar also only made a very small alteration but it’s amazing the difference it has made in both innings of this last Test. Most of all, he has shown incredible mental toughness at a time when his captaincy has been questioned and his side have been struggling.

England’s Jos Buttler is another example of someone who has made a change that has worked