Brook century edges England ahead in another thriller in Pakistan
Pakistan v England — Karachi, Day 2.
Pakistan v England — Karachi, Day 2.
According to legend only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the mid-day sun or in the case of this particular English mad dog, he rises in the middle of the night, builds a fort out of multiple duvets, fills a hot water bottle to the brim and settles in for a night and early morning of Test Match cricket.
I’ve long proselytized as to why the many beautiful aspects of the grand old game coalesce so often and they did so delightfully yet again today. Much like it’s American cousin baseball, I’ve termed cricket as “wallpaper television”, humming along in the background as life continues apace elsewhere. You can drop in and out (as well as getting out and in — a cricket joke for you — Sports Editor) but more specifically one team can appear dominant whilst the other is hanging on. Soon enough, the roles will reverse, a change of ball perhaps, a crazy run out, a century batting partnership, an individual century, a rare hat-trick chance, a mini batting collapse and from nowhere, and with the game seemingly drifting in a dominant fashion in favour of one team, the hour’s play, the session and the entire day itself spins on its head.
Thus is Test Match cricket. The other endlessly fascinating aspect of this elongated game and another value it shares with the great game of baseball is the TV colour commentary ticking alongside the action on screen. It’s a long game Test Match cricket, 5 days at its longest and so commentators of every denomination and supporting stripe need to engage with their viewers, often talking about anything and everything away from the actual game itself! The number of the bus passing the stadium. The number of pigeons congregating on a nearby roof. A cake made especially for the commentary team by an evangelical fan. All of these and so much more paint the rich tapestry around the grand old game and they never fail to raise a smile, or a memory of my own as this mad dog Englishman peers out from beneath a warm wall of comforting duvets against the bleak dark cold outside at 5.07am.
So to this end, and in homage to the late, great Australian cricketing legend turned TV commentator Richie Benaud, “Good morning everyone”, and here is your session-by-session breakdown of yet another intriguing to and fro cricketing battle from the faraway sunshine of Pakistan.
ACT ONE: England in a spin
Morning Session: ENGLAND 140–4 (Brook 38 not out) Trail by 164 runs
The dominance and sporting submission, the attack and it’s thrilling counter offensive, were both brilliantly in evidence all day long and especially so in the day’s first hour. With the visitors starting the day on 7–1 and the hosts with both a 297 run lead and a near brand new cricketing “cherry” to bowl with, I felt Pakistan squandered a great opportunity in the first 40 minutes to take charge of the game and I felt Babar Azam should have set more attacking fields and opened with spin bowling at both ends. He opted for the medium pace Mohammad Wasim and whilst he’d brilliantly dismiss England centurion Harry Brook much later in the afternoon, in the morning session he was easily “milked” for carefree and risk free runs alongside a disappointing Abrar Ahmed. No criticism of Ahmed. He’s gone from being left out of the 1st Test Match to a record shattering debut in the 2nd and now his team’s attacking spearhead here in the 3rd. He too would snag wickets later in the day, but not before allowing England’s Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope to easily increase the team’s overnight total of 7 runs to 58 in 40 fairly carefree minutes.
Enter the morning’s undoubted hero: Nauman Ali. The 36 year old from Khipro only debuted for his country last year and that no doubt explains why this veteran left arm spin bowler plays the game with the widest of smiles and with such human sporting enthusiasm. He bowled brilliantly today and would snaffle two more wickets in addition to the two in two balls he so magnificently grabbed this morning to arguably turn the game on its head. First he trapped Ben Duckett LBW (Leg Before Wicket) for 26 well made runs before the very next ball, enticing an edge from the bat of Joe Root that Agha Salman grasped inches from the turf. Root was out for that most elegant of cricketing phrases, a “Golden Duck”, and Ali was on the cusp of that rarest of cricketing treats, a hat-trick. Ali didn’t secure his hat-trick but Abrar Ahmed collected his second wicket of the innings by utterly defeating the defensive shot of Ollie Pope (51 runs from 64 balls) and by the close of the morning session, Pakistan were deeply indebted to two relatively new debutants who were now their principal bowling attack.
England ended the opening session 164 runs adrift of Pakistan’s 1st innings total, with a circumspect and watchful captain Ben Stokes on 25 runs whilst Harry Brook had batted more expressively and expansively for his 38 runs, including 2 huge straight 6’s back over the bowler’s head. Stokes nagged away and ensured his team didn’t collapse after the loss of 2 quick wickets whilst Brook relatively flowed his way to 38 not out at Lunch.
ACT TWO: Brook and Foakes to the rescue
Afternoon Session: ENGLAND 254–5 (Brook 108 not out) Trail by 50 runs
Man of the day Harry Brook put on yet another batting exhibition in the afternoon session as he first reached his half century from 73 balls received before serenely batting his way to a 100 from 133 balls. It was yet another risk free, no chances given, magnificent array of run accumulation as he added a further huge 6 to 8 boundary 4’s in a 100 run partnership with wicketkeeper Ben Foakes. With Brook entering the Tea Break 108 not out, partner Foakes had more than aided in the rescue act, ending the session on 46 not out with their 100+ run partnership taking England to just 50 runs behind Pakistan’s 1st innings total as well as righting the ship after the dreadful run out of captain Ben Stokes just 10 minutes into the session.
Stokes lazily ran a second run before confusion reigned between the skipper and Harry Brook. It was a moment of madness eased by Stokes as he seemed to indicate to Brook with a thumbs up “ok” gesture as well as a further gesture I construed as “stick around”, keep batting. This the young Yorkshireman did.
Magnificently.
ACT THREE: We have a thrilling one inning shoot-out in store
Stumps Day 2: ENGLAND 354 all out. Pakistan 21–0 (Trail by 29 runs)
We had all the fun of the cricketing fair as the light faded on yet another intriguing day of Test Match cricket in Karachi. Following the magnificence of his afternoon display, Brook would add just 3 further runs to the cricketing unlucky number of 111 before being trapped LBW by Mohammad Wasim, teenager Rehan Ahmed soon followed and yet again, England teetered on the brink of collapse at 265–7, still 39 runs short of Pakistan’s 1st innings total.
Enter the lusty blows of Ollie Robinson (29 runs from 20 balls received) and Mark Wood (35 from 41) in addition to Ben Foakes invaluable half century and eventual 64 runs from 121 balls received, and England had fashioned exactly 100 runs in the day’s final session to end their 1st innings with a total of 354 and perhaps crucially, a 50 run lead on 1st innings.
Day 2 pleasingly ended in similar fashion to that of yesterday: a batting team with nothing to win or gain, and a bowling team with nothing to lose and everything to win. Against the fading of the light and the setting of the sun, Pakistan opening batsmen Abdullah Shafique (14 not out) and Shan Masood (3 not out) saw out a 9 over, 30 minute period expertly and in a carefree manner despite their no-win situation. Stokes attacked and rotated his bowlers to no avail and whilst England have the slenderest of leads going into Day 3, it’s very definitely game on and we have a thrilling one inning shoot-out in the offing tomorrow and Tuesday.
Thus is another endearingly beautiful trait of this grand old game. England have arguably dominated the majority of both day’s play and Harry Brook has scored yet another magnificent century. But Pakistan are just 29 runs adrift on 1st innings with all 10 wickets of their 2nd innings still intact.
We have a real game on our hands — Bravo!
Pakistan desperately need a win to avoid a 3–0 whitewash on their own soil.
An England victory will be their third in a row and 22 years and a couple of days since their famous victory in the dark of Karachi in the year 2000.
Can history repeat itself tomorrow?
Thanks for reading. Please feel free to delve into the cave of wonders that is my archives and specifically the “Cricket” archives for my day by day recaps from the first 2 Test Matches of this tour of Pakistan.
Alternatively, linked below is my daily wrap up from yesterday’s play in this 3rd and final Test Match:
England on top as wickets tumble in Karachi
Pakistan v England — Karachi, Day 1.medium.com