Pakistan Route 73 by 3 (Masood 16*, Shakeel 16*) England 267 (Smith 89, Duckett 52, Sajid 6-128) by 194 runs
Patio heaters, industrial-sized fans, and rakes have worked their magic. But as Rawalpindi’s famous batting track produced 13 wickets on the opening day of this third and decisive Test, it was England who benefited, first reaching 267 and then making that a viable total by reducing Pakistan to 73 for 3 at the end. end.
As expected, after sharing all 20 English wickets in the second Test at Multan to square the series, the spin duo did the bulk of the bowling, sending all but 11 of the 68.2 overs, including the first 42 without changes. For the second time in the history of the Test, and the first since 1882, no pace bowler was used in the first innings of the match.
England started reasonably enough, with a relatively calm 50 in 12 overs. After a careful start against Zak Crawley, playing in his 50th Test, he fell to Noman with a worn back drive. Ollie Pope produced another scary 3 for 14 effort, caught in front doing a desperate sweep, before Duckett (carrying one on his toes), Joe Root (caught in front) and Harry Brook (stump with blown leg that he was trying to sweep) succumbed to the deliveries. that did not rise as expected.
The fact that England had something to work with, lunching at 110 for 5, was largely down to Duckett. While somewhat precarious, it was difficult to directly label it as a problematic position, and by boosting that total to 242 for 8 a tea, Smith and Atkinson ensured England were on firm footing.
When Sajid was finally relieved of his mammoth first spell of 21 overs, he had removed Stokes, caught at slip, 11 balls into the second session, for his fourth wicket. He finally returned to end Noman’s opening salvo after 23 overs.
Atkinson joined Smith in undertaking an all-Surrey stance, acting as the righteous man in the face of the latter’s devastation, even if those roles only really came to the fore at the end of his century-long stance. After an attentive start from both (Smith’s fifty took all 94 deliveries), the last 39 runs to take their partnership to three figures required just 21 deliveries.
It was a charge instigated by Atkinson, hitting three fours in the last four balls of the 56th over, against bowler Zahid Mahmood, who was now in England’s sights as the bowler to target. That said, Smith followed up with successive shots off Sajid, although the second, his third six, went through the hands of Saud Shakeel at long-on.
Had Shakeel been behind the fence instead of a few feet in front, he could have ended the keeper-batsman’s innings on 54. Alas, Sajid felt the brunt of that error, taken for two more boundaries by Smith in his next over. – the former skittered over midwicket for six, the latter gloriously soared down the ground for four off a single bounce.
The second took the seventh-wicket value to 103 off just 159 deliveries. And although he would only reach 107 when Noman returned to catch his own bowling as Atkinson returned a bunt that got stuck on the delivery, Smith soldiered on, smashing two sixes into the ground off Zahid as he completed his second Test century. . A third six at the end of the over was avoided thanks to the exemplary work of Sajid, who caught the boundary twice, but had to return the ball to play a second time to avoid the boundary.
Alas, Smith would fall short by nine, Zahid would be the beneficiary of a top-edge push that was taken to end a remarkable knock and polish the player’s figures, which would read 1 for 44 in 10 overs. It was Pakistan’s first wicket on 28 for a bowler other than Sajid and Noman, who combined for 20 in the second Test in Multan.
Leach and Rehan Ahmed, called up to the team for their first international appearance since February, resumed after the break but lasted just 32 deliveries, with Sajid removing both from the crease to claim his fifth and sixth wickets of the match, and his 15th in three entries since his retirement in Multan.
Naturally, Stokes opened with Leach, although he handed Atkinson the new ball at the other end for his first glimpse of pace, albeit only for a period of two overs. A break in the second over of that burst led to Abdullah Shafique and Saim Ayub surpassing their previous highest opening stand of 15. But having reached 35, Bashir spun one on Shafique’s front pad for the first of the three wickets. of Pakistan fell by just 11. runs.
An attempt to batten down the hatches to stumps allowed England to tighten up. Leach bagged Ayub, pushing Root at mid-wicket, the middle of three catchers on the leg side, before Atkinson returned for a solo delivery and took advantage of the low bounce to knock down the stump of Kamran Ghulan, who had scored three after having scored his debut. in Multan last week with a century.
Masood will resume on day two with Shakeel, who was incorrectly given one when he was deemed to have been caught by Stokes after Smith deflected the ball towards his captain at first slip as he attempted to bring down the leg side. It was the second of two clear errors by umpire Sharfuddoula overturned by DRS, having raised the finger at Ayub at the start of the seventh over for an equally erroneous decision to catch on the cordon.
Vithushan Ehantharajah is associate editor of Pak Gazette