Brook and Duckett lead England into a strong position in the 2nd Test
Pakistan v England — Multan Day 2.
Pakistan v England — Multan Day 2.
ENGLAND 281 all out and 202–5
PAKISTAN 202 all out
Match Position: England lead by 281 runs with 5 wickets remaining
If Day 1 in this 2nd Test Match in Multan belonged to Pakistan then today was a resounding and comprehensive “win” for the tourists. With the hosts starting the day on 107–2 and with both their captain Babar Azam (61 not out) and Saud Shakeel (32 not out) well set on overnight scores, Azam and his team must have started today with England’s 1st innings total of 281 in their sights. But whilst the smog and heat haze of an early Pakistan morning disappeared as slowly as the light dusting of snow and sub zero frost here in central England, they slowly capitulated under some fine bowling from the tourists as well as the intuitive captaincy decisions of England’s Ben Stokes.
The hosts added a further 35 runs to their overnight total before the tourists snagged the precious scalp of Pakistan captain Babar Azam. He contributed 14 of the 35 additional runs this morning before being deceived by a beautiful and slightly slower delivery from England’s Ollie Robinson who sneaked a brilliant delivery through Azam’s defence, dismantling his cricketing “castle” in the process. 16 runs later it was his overnight partner Saud Shakeel who departed for a very well constructed 63 runs. Shakeel had a cricketing “life” when on 58 but Jack Leach snagged his wicket, his 100th all time in Test Match cricket and his 2nd of the innings, but he was indebted to a fine running, diving catch from veteran James “Jimmy” Anderson. England were now on top and with two new batsmen at the crease, were slowly and surely tightening the screw.
Mohammad Rizwan scratched around for 28 balls without scoring before he finally freed himself from his shackles with a superb cover drive for a boundary 4 off the bowling of Jack Leach but the Englishman soon took revenge with a delicious and devious delivery that drifted through the air before spinning away from his defence and crashing into his middle and off stump. Pakistan were now 165–5 and teetering on the brink of a real collapse.
Just 4 runs later the anticipated collapse was underway and a huge amount of credit should fall in the direction of England captain Ben Stokes. With spin bowling from both ends (Jack Leach and the newly introduced Joe Root), the skipper was rewarded both with the wickets snagged by part-time bowler Root and his intuitive close-in field placings. First Mohammad Nawaz became Leach’s 4th wicket of the innings from an unusually close-in field placing and smart catch from Ollie Robinson before the skipper himself (in a similarly close-in and unusual position) snagged a catch to dismiss Agha Salman with Joe Root’s first delivery. With the innings score remaining on 169, and just 4 balls later, Mohammad Ali edged a sharp high chance to Zak Crawley off the bowling again of Joe Root and England were threatening to end the Pakistan 1st innings here and now, and the hosts were therefore indebted to the stoic resistance and 22 runs from Faheem Ashraf who along with Abrar Ahmed guided their team to an eventual all out total of 202 to trail England on 1st innings by 79 runs.
Sessions two and three today were an amalgam and a mirror image of sorts as they each contained a run out, a deserved half century and a continuing “Man of the Match” performance, but seemingly in a losing cause. The run outs are notable as (a) they rarely occur in Test Match cricket and more importantly (b) the first was a brilliant run, one handed, pick-up and throw from the 24 year old debutant, Abrar Ahmed. As would seem certain, even after just two days of this Test Match and that Pakistan fall to defeat, Abrar Ahmed would be a more than worthy call as the game’s highlight player. Together with his 7 wickets in England’s 1st innings he snagged 3 more this afternoon to take his match total to the mystical and rarely achieved double figures of 10. Will Jacks may have had an almighty and inelegant swing as he was bowled comprehensively by Ahmed for just 4, the 24 year old from Karachi also clean bowled Ben Duckett after his patiently determined knock of 79 runs from 98 balls received and then, the coup de grace: Joe Root had batted perfectly in line with England’s stoic determination all afternoon to score runs but without undue risk, making 21 in the process. The delivery that snagged Root was a little short and as the ex England captain tried to flick the ball off his hip I believe it brushed his pad as well as his bat, thus deviating the resultant catch to Abdullah Shafique. The Pakistan opening batsman was fielding at leg slip and in trying to expect the original angle of the shot, started moving to his right before with the deviation evident lurching back to his left to grasp a literal fingertip catch from the top of the turf. It was an incredible catch, quite incredible, and England were now in a spot of trouble at 79–3.
Finishing the day on 202–5, Ben Stokes’ charges are indebted to the previously mentioned 79 runs from Ben Duckett and his second half century of the match, as well as a brilliantly made 74 not out from Harry Brook. Following the Tea Break, Brook upped his personal batting tempo and whilst not overly rash or reckless, scored the quick runs that saw his team past the 200 mark in this 2nd innings as well as stretching their overall lead to a commanding 281 runs. Stokes himself remains not out overnight on 16 and with three full days still remaining this Test Match is moving at a lightning pace. If Brook and Stokes can continue their partnership in the opening session tomorrow, I foresee the plan to be to “bat big” as they say in cricketing circles, essentially giving Pakistan plenty of time to score the required runs, but it’s highly likely they will be set a record shattering 4th innings total to win, and on a wearing spinning wicket.
I foresee an England victory, their second in consecutive Test Matches in Pakistan, and still only their 4th all time in the country.
Thanks for reading. Please feel free to delve into the cave of wonders that is my archives and specifically the “Cricket” archives for all 5 days of the previous Test Match in Rawalpindi on this tour. Alternatively, linked below is my wrap up from Day 1 of this 2nd Test Match in Multan:
Debutant puts England in a spin on day 1 in Multan
Pakistan v England — Multan Day 1.medium.com