England believe Pakistan are under pressure to produce a livelier pitch for the second Test after going 1-0 down in Multan.

The tourists proved in style they can win on a flat batting pitch, rattling up 823 for seven at 5.5 runs an over after conceding 556 to win by an innings.

Jason Gillespie, the Pakistan head coach, had hoped for a first Test pitch that would help his seamers, but the surface was cut on the morning of the match and offered very little across five days, making England’s win even more impressive.

The ground staff immediately began preparing the second Test pitch at the same ground in Multan. The new surface is situated to the left of the square, meaning there will be one fairly short boundary which rampant England batsmen will be eyeing up.

“There was talk about green surfaces. I don’t know what that was,” said England’s Chris Woakes. “I suppose it did have a tinge of green on day one. But it just got better and better. But yes, the ball is firmly in their court.

“When it’s a home series and it’s only three matches and you lose the first, you’d like to think that the next two are going to be result wickets, whether that be green or turners, we’ll see.”

A turning pitch is less likely given Pakistan’s front-line spinner, Abrar Ahmed, spent the last two days of the Test in hospital. Pakistan also have a poor record of playing spin themselves.

For England, the main question will be the fitness of Ben Stokes. He stepped up his bowling this week after a hamstring tear ruled him out of the last four Tests, but it feels unlikely he will play unless he can perform his full job as an all-rounder.

“I’m not 100 per cent sure. I know he’s been training really well this week, and he’s as keen as ever to get playing again. So fingers crossed for everyone that he’s all good,” said Ollie Pope.

This was Pope’s third win in four matches as stand-in captain and he joins an illustrious group who have led England to Test victories in Pakistan, this being England’s fourth in a row after winning just twice in six decades.

“Whenever you get 550, whatever pitch it is, it’s always a good score. But we also knew if we batted like we know we can then we know we can go big, and we’ve got two greedy Yorkshiremen and they did exactly that,” said Pope.

“Credit to them for the skill they showed, but also the fitness. The fact we knew we needed a big score really kept them driving towards those massive, massive  numbers and massive credit to them for putting us in a position to win that game. What they did was seriously special. It was a joy to watch.”

This was a crushing defeat for Pakistan – their sixth in a row under Shan Masood, who is now under serious pressure for his job, despite a first-innings century.

“Harsh reality is that England found a way, and we didn’t,” he said. “I wouldn’t say my team is weak mentally. That third innings in isolation can seem like a collapse, can seem like everything went wrong. But if we had kept England there and thereabouts to our score there could have been a difference.”