Pakistan fight back in a slowly developing stalemate in Rawalpindi
Pakistan v England — Rawalpindi Day 2.
Pakistan v England — Rawalpindi Day 2.
In the manner of Australian cricket legend and voice of my cricketing youth Richie Benaud: “Good morning everyone!”.
With England starting the second day of this Test Match in Rawalpindi with a mammoth and record breaking 506–4, a variety of records continued to tumble as Pakistan toiled gamely despite the dire and unprecedented position facing them before an afternoon fightback sees this Test Match teetering on the brink of a five day stalemate.
Morning Session: England 657 all out. Pakistan 17–0.
Following an early start in order to make up for lost time for bad light yesterday evening, the tourists advanced their already huge 1st innings total of 506–4 to an eventual all out total of 657 from 101 overs. Whilst adding a staggering 151 further runs in just 90 minutes of the day’s opening session, England set yet another record in a Test Match already full to the brim, this record being their all time highest ever score in Pakistan.
Although with bowling figures they’ll immediately wish to forget, Pakistan’s Naseem Shah snaffled 3 thoroughly deserved wickets this morning despite playing through the pain barrier of a shoulder injury whilst leg spinner Zahid Mahmood was playing through his own particular pain barrier: that of having conceded the most runs all time on a Test Match debut. Mahmood toiled away despite being regularly dispatched over the boundary rope for 6 after 6 as he finished the innings with mind bending bowling figures of 4 wickets for 235 runs. 235 runs! He deserved his two wickets this morning for simply refusing to be ruffled by the dire situation and the same can be said for the aforementioned Shah who bowled some beautiful reverse swing whilst mixing in some slower balls and those oh so pleasing cricketing “yorkers”.
Pakistan batted for just 20 minutes prior to the lunch break, making 17 relatively carefree runs. Here are the “Fall of Wickets” for England in the morning session:
4.58am BEN STOKES bowled Shah (41).
The England captain started the morning on 34 not out and immediately dispatched the second ball he received for a mighty 6! He’d add just one further run before being bowled middle stump by a pumped up Naseem Shah, and via a beautiful slower ball that Stokes played all around.
5.18am LIAM LIVINGSTONE caught Shakeel bowled Shah (9).
Livingstone followed his captain’s example with another huge introductory 6 before “holing out” at deep square leg as he chased quick runs.
5.35am HARRY BROOK caught Shakeel bowled Shah (153).
England’s remarkable fourth and last centurion from yesterday dealt only in 4’s and 6’s this morning as he added 44 runs to his overnight total of 101 in the opening half an hour of play. Brook added a further 8 quick fire runs to pass the 150 run milestone before following Livingstone’s exact demise, hooking a simple catch to Saud Shakeel at deep square leg.
153 runs from just 116 balls received. A quite remarkable innings.
6.27am WILL JACKS caught Shah bowled Ali (30).
Whilst all around him team mates were intent on chasing quick runs, Jacks batted in a carefree yet methodical and correct way on his debut, hitting a run a ball 30 before presenting Muhammad Ali a deserved second wicket of the Test Match.
6.47am OLLIE ROBINSON lbw bowled Mahmood (37).
Robinson combined with Jacks for yet another 50+ batting partnership before getting somewhat stuck on the crease. Mahmood had trapped his man “Leg Before Wicket” and although the debutant had already secured a record he’ll not wish to be reminded of any time soon, he’d grabbed a deserved third wicket of the match. A fourth soon followed.
6.59am JAMES ANDERSON caught ul-Haq bowled Mahmood (6).
Chasing quick runs to close the innings, veteran Anderson chipped a simple catch to Imam ul-Haq to finally end the innings and a collective torment for Pakistan.
Postscript to the innings
Jack Leach ended the England innings on 6 not out and this is only noteworthy as 4 of his 6 runs came via a comical overthrow when he should have been run out and a further run came via a dropped catch from Pakistan captain Babar Azam. Oh so very typical of the madness that always seems to follow England’s very own “Mad Professor!”.
Afternoon Session: Pakistan 108–0 (Trail by 549 runs)
Beginning the middle session of the day on 17–0, Pakistan openers Abdullah Shafique (54) and Imam ul-Haq (52) added a further 91 almost carefree runs in their ongoing and unbroken opening partnership as they reached the Tea Break on 108–0. Whilst Shafique was blemish free on his way to a milestone half-century from just 82 balls, his partner ul-Haq was dropped on just 11 runs early in the second session. It was a difficult chance for stand-in wicketkeeper Ollie Pope, the faintest of cricketing “tickles” that seemed to hit him in the chest before evading the grasp of his gloves. Although England captain Ben Stokes rotated his bowlers, tried spin bowling at both ends, threw the ball to the trusted legendary figure of James Anderson and set very attacking fields, I can only foresee a substantially slower matching of England’s 1st innings total on a dull, placid and dying wicket that provides zero assistance to the bowlers of either team.
Stumps Day 2: Pakistan 181–0 (Trail by 476 runs)
Openers Shafique (89) and ul-Haq (90) added a further 73 runs in the day’s expectedly short final session, and in an almost reversed carbon copy of the earlier middle session, this time it was Abdullah Shafique who would receive a crucial cricketing “life”. Just 4 balls into the day’s final session he gloved a leg side loose delivery from James Anderson that appeared to be taken cleanly by wicketkeeper Ollie Pope. The soft on field signal from the umpire was out, but further inspection via DRS confirmed Pope “scooping” the ball from the turf on the bounce. Rightly reprieved, Shafique added a further 35 runs to finish the day unbeaten on 89 with his partner ul-Haq adding 38 further runs to accompany his mate to the pavilion at the end of the day 90 not out.
Pakistan still trail England by a whopping 476 runs and at the run rate they scored by today, if they do reach a 1st innings parity, it will be in a long away mid afternoon, and the day after tomorrow. So stands this Test Match. Pakistan are replying in kind to England’s record breaking 1st innings total on the same dead and dying wicket that they exploited yesterday. According to local lore (and the advice of Pakistan legend Waqar Younis on local TV commentary duties), the wicket is not expected to crumble or break up, more simply just get slower and lower. In the absence of a severely decaying wicket, I can only foresee Pakistan approaching parity and whilst this could signal a one inning shoot-out, I can’t see either team’s batting order crumbling and folding on this unhelpful wicket.
Thanks for reading. Please feel free to dance amongst the madness of my archives, or revisit yesterday’s play through my article linked here:
Record tumble in Rawalpindi as England put Pakistan to the sword
Pakistan v England — Rawalpindi Day 1.medium.com