England 239 for 6 (Duckett 114, Root 34, Sajid 4-86) Pakistan 366 (Ghulam 118, Ayub 77, Leach 4-114) by 127 runs
Slowly, slowly… and then, with the snap of resolve that vindicated each of their seemingly half-baked plans, Pakistan took command in the second Test in Multan, transforming another day of dominant England batting with a characteristic flurry of wickets , similar. of which had eluded them during their depressing run of six consecutive Test defeats.
Race on the board: check. Irrelevant sewing: check. Spinners finding spin from the straight with men stationed around the bat: check.
With the first ball of his next over, Sajid found another ripper that darted off Duckett’s outside edge to nestle in Salman Agha’s abdomen at slip. Before the over was over, he also had the dangerous Harry Brook, who had hit off-spinner Zahid Mahmood for two ominously emphatic fours in his brief stay, but had no answer to a fizzing outburst that tore his stumps to their full length.
Then, with Zahid offside once again, returned Sajid’s partner Noman Ali, whose second ball bit the inside edge of Ben Stokes and rocketed down to short leg, to remove the England captain for 1 off five balls in his first competitive match. tickets since August. Jamie Smith and Brydon Carse held on until the end, but with the surface now only heading in one direction, parity is certainly a prerequisite for this match not to slip further out of England’s control.
It was a stunning turnaround to cap a gripping day of Test cricket, but even by Pakistan’s chaotic standards, the manner of their resurgence took the cake. Until the moment everything fell into place, his challenge had fallen apart.
He duly reached a brilliant century (with a sweep, of course) off a brisk 120 balls, but it was still, surprisingly, the slowest of his four to date in Test cricket. In the process, he became the fastest man to reach 2,000 Test runs, off 2,293 balls, a niche statistic perhaps, but one that reflects the extent to which he has not only accepted but embodied England’s Bazball mantra since his retirement for his last game. Pakistan tour in December 2022.
Crawley should have been out on 20 after being sent back with a quick single to back square, but Sajid broke the stumps before the ball arrived, and five runs later, he was set to walk after being hit on the pads while swept, again. in front of Sajid. But Duckett convinced him to check and it was shown that the ball was missing its leg.
Duckett himself had a big moment in the 83rd over when Noman, already bowling down the wicket to close that full range of sweeps, hit his leg stump on a thin layer of varnish as Duckett reverse-spinned. He also took two hits to the visor when the ball bit and bounced on the rough ground, and although he was disappointed to be part of the late collapse, the wonder in retrospect was how easy he had made it look while things were going well.
The chaos of the final overs was a far cry from the slower pace of the morning, in which Pakistan had resumed at a promising 259 for 5, on a surface that, while offering some spin and reverse swing, still had more in common. with the road that had delivered 1,599 runs in the first test last week.
In cooler, foggier conditions, the course seemed to have picked up an extra meter of pace for the first rallies of the day, which Carse took advantage of to magnificent effect. Mohammad Rizwan had added just four to his 37 overnight when he was beaten by an extra lift, angled into his junction, and Smith behind the stumps reacted superbly to latch on to a fast-travelling chance.
It was well-deserved reward for an exemplary performance from Carse, whose key wicket of Saud Shakeel on the first night also required him to extract some unlikely life from the surface. Agha then found some momentum with four fours in a deep third, but Stokes, to his credit, refused to plug the gap in conventional style, instead opting to add a gully to increase the risk-reward element of the bang. Potts got an extra rebound and Smith, for the third time in the inning, made a very clear chance look simple.
When Sajid bowled a drive at short cover, Pakistan were in danger of suffering another damaging collapse at 309 for 8, but Jamal and Noman’s key stand of 49 for the ninth wicket helped push the innings past 350. However , England were deeply satisfied with their day’s work when Leach concluded his fourth innings. But, as ordered when Masood won the toss, runs on the board will be critical in this contest. Right now, despite Duckett’s brilliant response, England don’t have enough.
Andrew Miller is UK editor for Pak Gazette. @miller_cricket
