A look at England’s capitulation in Rawalpindi and a photo gallery in two parts.
England went into day three of the third and final test of the Pakistan v England series with three second innings wickets gone and a deficit of 53 to overcome just to get on terms (see here for the first two days). This post looks at the events of today.
A COLLAPSE
Root and Brook began well for England, but England were still in deficit when Brook was fourth out, caught behind off Noman Ali for 26. The deficit had still not been cleared when Stokes had a brain fade and allowed a ball from Noman Ali to hit his pads when he was right in front of the stumps. Root at the non-strikers end, recognizing a hopeless case when he saw it, told Stokes not to waste a review. Jamie Smith essayed a big hit against Sajid Khan, missed and was bowled, which made England effectively minus 2-6. England were in credit, but only just, when Root edged Noman Ali to the keeper to be out for 33. Gus Atkinson and Rehan Ahmed added 12 runs to the score before Atkinson, who has probably never batted on a genuine turner before, was bowled by Sajid Khan for 10. Rehan Ahmed also got a good one from Sajid Khan, with the same result as in the Atkinson case. Leach had an LBW verdict overturned on review, but shortly afterwards had a huge heave, missed and was stumped. England were 112 all out, leaving Pakistan needing a mere 36 to win.
PAKISTAN FINISH IN STYLE
Leach and Bashir opened the bowling, but this target was never going to pose a threat, and Pakistan treated the situation as it deserved, taking a mere 3.1 overs to knock the runs off. Skipper Shan Masood, coming in after the loss of Saim Ayub, hammered 23 not out of six balls, hitting four fours, a single, and then off the first ball of the fourth over the six that officially confirmed Pakistan as winners of both match and series. Saud Shakeel’s 134 earned him Player of the Match, while Sajid Khan’s wickets, lower order runs and general aggression netted him Player of the Series. Noman Ali had claimed 21 wickets in two matches with his left arm spin, as a 38 year old who was making just his 16th and 17th test appearances. Sajid Khan had 18 wickets in those two games, with the one that got away being Jamie Smith in England’s first innings of this match, leg spinner Zahid Mahmood’s sole strike.
AN ENGLAND REVIEW
Though the England second innings capitulation looks obvious as a cause of the disaster it was not the most significant element of the match. England underperformed in the first innings after winning a valuable looking toss – the only seriously misbehaving ball of that innings was the one that kept low on Ben Duckett, so 267 was definitely a poor score.
Worse still was the failure of both bowling and leadership when England had Pakistan 177-7 in reply. Saud Shakeel, a formidable batter, was allowed to accumulate without let or hindrance, while Sajid Khan and Noman Ali showed their batting skills, which are better than usual for numbers nine and 10 in an order at the other end.
The England spinners were not up to the task. Leach, by far the most experienced, performed worst of the trio, with the other two both having their moments. However, all were guilty of failing to vary their pace, whereas Noman Ali and Sajid Khan both did vary the pace of their deliveries over a fairly wide range.
England have only one batter who actually knows how to handle the turning ball, and Root did not find his best form in either of the matches that were played on turners. The rest of the order for the most part are deeply unimpressive against spin.
Incidentally, across the border in India, New Zealand, who England will be visiting shortly, took an unassailable 2-0 lead in their three match series. Before this India had last lost a home series in 2012, and New Zealand had never won a series in India.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Today’s photo gallery comes in two parts…
Part two…
An unlikely sighting for an English October!Eco vandalism – the plants that were growing alongside this path were home to various kinds of wildlife including caterpillars.
A look at the the action during the first two days of the third test of the Pakistan v England series in Rawalpindi and a large photo gallery.
The third and final test match of the series between Pakistan and England got underway in Rawalpindi yesterday morning. This post looks at the events of the first two days.
THE PRELIMINARIES
England had called up Rehan Ahmed and with Carse having problems with a foot injury Atkinson replaced him in the XI. This meant three front line spinners (Leach, Bashir and Ahmed) and only Atkinson as a specialist pacer, with skipper Stokes second option in that department. Pakistan were unchanged. The pitch had had giant fans blowing on it to dry it out more for the spinners. England won the toss and chose to bat.
THE FIRST DAY
Duckett batted well and reached a fine 50 before getting out. The rest of the top six did little worthy of mention, and at 118-6 England looked in deep trouble. However, Atkinson batted well in support of Smith who batted very impressively, and by the time I left to catch the bus to work the score had risen to 158-6. I was to find out later that the England recovery continued, and they got to 267 all out, before reducing Pakistan to 73-3 by the close of day one.
DAY TWO
England had a good morning, and at one stage Pakistan were 177-7. That score had increased by 10 when lunch came at 8:30 UK time (session times on Fridays in Pakistan are different from on other days – the morning session is extended, then the lunch break lasts an hour to incorporate time for Friday prayers, and the afternoon and evening sessions are a little shorter). The afternoon session was the first of two where the match appeared to swing decisively. England captured only wicket in that session, and Pakistan, withNoman Ali attacking, and Saud Shakeel accumulating sensibly and without fuss against field settings that were designed to prevent boundaries but as a consequence allowed him to score ones and twos more or less at will, scored 90 runs, levelling the scores. The evening session began with a period of absolute carnage, as Sajid Khan, the number 10, laid about him in spectacular fashion. The lead raced past 50 in the sixth over after the interval. The scoring reined in after that, but runs continued to accrue. Finally, with the lead standing at 70, Atkinson induced a miscue from Shakeel whose magnificent innings of 134 (223 balls, just five fours and thus a lot of running) came to an end with a tame catch to sub fielder Matt Potts. Seven further runs accrued before Sajid Khan exposed number 11 Zahid Mahmood to the wiles of Rehan Ahmed. One ball from leg spinner to leg spinner was sufficient to end the innings, Zahid failing to pick the googly and being bowled. Rehan Ahmed had 4-66 for the innings, Shoaib Bashir, chief victim of the post tea onslaught, had 3-129, but the real disappointment among the England spinners was Leach, more experienced than the other two combined, who on a surface that was offering assistance had 1-105 from 31 overs. Atkinson, on a surface on which he should have been a non-factor, had 2-22 from 12 overs.
England lost both openers to LBWs , one to Noman Ali and one to Sajid Khan. With the score 20, Pope who had amassed a single, gave a catch to Salman Agha off Noman Ali. Root and Brook joined forces, and had added four runs when the umpires decided that the floodlights were now dominating the natural light and took the players off, ending play for the day, with England 53 runs behind Pakistan and having seven second innings wickets standing. Failure to finish off opposition innings is becoming a recurrent problem for this England side, and the batting of the top three in the second innings was disastrous. They should have learned by this stage that playing back foot strokes against spinners on this surface is a recipe for disaster, but both openers perished essaying exactly such shots.
An account of the second test of the Pakistan v England series in Multan, which ended this morning UK time, and a photo gallery.
The second test of the three test series between Pakistan and England has just ended with the home side winning by 152 runs. The pitch was reused from the first match, and it was always likely that the side winning the toss would also win the match. This post looks back at a compelling match.
THE TOSS AND PRELIMINARIES
Pakistan, with a selection committee so large it almost outnumbered their playing staff, had named a completely revamped XI. They had picked only one front line seamer, Aamer Jamal, with their second ranked operator in that department being skipper Shan Masood with eight wickets in over 150 FC matches. The side was packed with spinners. The other big news was that Babar Azam was replaced by Kamran Ghulam. For England a fit again Stokes replaced Woakes, and of course captained the side, and Potts replaced Atkinson, meaning that England’s three front line seamers in the match all played for Durham, the first time an England seam attack containing at least three players were all from one county since the 1894-5 Ashes when Tom Richardson, Bill Lockwood and Bill Brockwell all of Surrey played all five test matches. The two front line spinners, Leach and Bashir, both play for Somerset, whereas in the 1894-5 Ashes the spin was in the hands of Peel (Yorkshire) and Briggs (Lancashire). Pakistan won the toss, and as was mandatory on what was already a day six pitch chose to bat first.
THE FIRST INNINGS
The debutant Kamran Ghulam scored a century, Saim Ayub managed 77, and with a few contributions from further down the order Pakistan tallied 366. Carse was impressive, taking 3-50, Potts had 2-66, Leach took 4-114, and Bashir’s inexperience was exposed as he finished with 1-85.
England lost Crawley early, but Ben Duckett played a magnificent innings, and at 211-2 England might have hoped for a first innings lead. However Root and Duckett fell in fairly quick succession, and a collapse ser in. Jamie Smith’s dismissal made it 262-9. Leach and Bashir added 29 to that tally before Bashir fell for 9, leaving Leach unbeaten on 25. Aamer Jamal was innocuous, and Zahid Mahmood, the leg spinner, also went wicketless, the damage being done by off spinner Sajid Khan, 7-111 and left arm spinner Noman Ali, 3-101.
THE SECOND INNINGS
England bowled well second time round, and Pakistan at one stage were 156-8, 231 ahead overall. However Salman Agha and Sajid Khan shared a ninth wicket stand of 65, which meant that England ultimately needed 297 to win. Bashir took 4-66, though he also went at 3.5 an over. Leach had 3-67, and was even more expensive. Carse took two wickets and Potts one. Salman Agha scored 63.
By the end of day three England were 36-2, with both openers gone. The fourth and final day, such as there was of it, belong to Noman Ali. The 38 year old left arm spinner whose appearances at the highest level have been sporadic tore through England. The only wicket to go anywhere else in this session was that of Pope, caught and bowled by Sajid Khan for 22. Ali had Root and Brook LBW, Stokes stumped (a particularly embarrassing dismissal for the skipper since he lost his grip on his bat while essaying the shot and had to have said implement returned to him by a fielder), and Smith, Carse, Leach and Bashir all caught, the last two in successive balls, both by Abdullah Shafique. This left England 144 all out, Stokes top scoring with 37, Carse second best with 27, which included three sixes. Noman Ali had innings figures of 8-46, giving him 11 in the match, and Sajid Khan had the other two giving him nine wickets for the match. This was only the seventh time in history that two bowlers had accounted for all 20 wickets for their side in a test match, and only the second occasion for two spinners to do so after Laker (19) and Lock (1) at Old Trafford in 1956. Sajid Khan, who had done the damage in the first innings when the pitch wasn’t offering so much, and shared in two significant ninth wicket stands (49 in the first innings as well as that 65 in the second) was named Player of the Match. Incidentally while a spectacular reversal of fortunes going from winning by an innings and 47 runs to losing 152 is not an England record for such – in the 1965-6 Ashes they won one match by an innings and lost the next by an innings to even things up. I have no issues with this pitch – I prefer matches where the bowlers are properly in the game, as they were in this one. Of course it was a challenge for England in the later stages – not since Durban in 1939 has anyone faced a day nine surface! The challenge for the Rawalpindi ground staff is to produce a surface that has something to offer without already having had five days played on it – they have only one match there.
An account of days four and five in Multan is England created history by winning by an innings margin after conceding over 500 in the first innings. Also a photo gallery.
In my previous post I told the story of the first three days of the opening test of the Pakistan v England series in Multan. I now tell the story of days four and five (please bear in mind day four was a work day for me and therefore I did not to get follow all of it).
ROOT AND BROOK DOMINANT
England started day four on 492-3. They utterly dominated the morning session, Root and Brook batting like a pair of titans. Had England scripted the session they would hardly have dared to make as good for themselves as it actually was. Not only did the Yorkies remain together throughout the session, they plundered 166 runs from 29 overs in the course of it. Both were well past 200 by the lunch interval, only the second time England had ever had two double centuries in a single test innings after Chennai in 1984 when Graeme Fowler and Mike Gatting did likewise. The partnership was worth an unbroken 409 at this point, already England’s second best ever for any wicket against all comers, also the highest ever England partnership between two players from the same county, relegating Hutton/ Leyland (Yorkshire, 382 for the second wicket v Australia at The Oval in 1938) into second place in this particular league table, with Denis Compton/ Bill Edrich (Middlesex, 370 v South Africa for the third wicket in 1947) and Ken Barrington/ John Edrich (Surrey, 369 for the second wicket v New Zealand in 1965).
After lunch the pair continued the assault, taking the total past 700 while they were still together. Both passed 250 along the way, Root first, closely followed by Brook who in spite of having given his partner an 80-odd run head start was threatening to overhaul him. Finally, Pakistan gained a measure of relief, when Salman Agha trapped Root LBW for a new test best of 262 to make it 703-4, ending the stand at 454, England’s record for any wicket in all test cricket, the all time fourth wicket record for all test cricket, and the fourth biggest partnership in test history, beaten only by Martin Crowe/ Andrew Jones 467 for the third wicket v Sri Lanka, Jayasuriya/ Mahanama 576 for the second wicket v India and Jayawardene/ Sangakkara 624 for the third wicket v South Africa, which means that this was also the biggest ever partnership in a test match not involving Sri Lanka.
Brook kept going, ticking off a few more milestones. At 270 he claimed possession of the highest test score by any member of this XI, a four taking past Crawley’s 267 also against Pakistan. Then came Cook’s 294, the highest score for England in the 21st century, then the triple century. It was at this point that I headed off to catch the bus to work, having made all my preparations and decided that I would take my leave either when Brook was out or when he reached 300, whichever came first, so I missed the last period of England’s charge towards a declaration. Later checks revealed that the declaration had finally come at 823-7, with Brook’s innings ending on 317, the second highest ever score for an England batter abroad behind Hammond’s 336* v new Zealand in 1933, and that Saim Ayub, pressed into service due Abrar Ahmed being ill (ill enough to hospitalized) had become a record breaking sixth Pakistan bowler to concede 100 or more in the innings. The previous was five, although in the first such instance of that happening, when Australia scored 758-8 declared v West Indies back in the 1950s, a sixth bowler, Sobers, avoided joining them by the narrowest possible margin, going for 99.
Pakistan thus began their second innings 267 runs adrift. It would appear to be in the early stages of their second innings that their hopes of escaping with a draw were killed. Abdullah Shafique was bowled by the first ball of the innings, and Pakistan somehow lost six wickets in the space of 24.2 overs, for 82 runs. The seventh wicket pair stopped the collapse to the extent of taking Pakistan to the close of day four on 156-6.
WRAPPING THINGS UP
Day five started with Pakistan needing 111 to avoid the innings defeat, with three wickets standing (it was confirmed that Abrar Ahmed was still ill in hospital and would not bat, though as a regular number 11 he was unlikely candidate for becoming a latter-day Eddie Paynter, rising from his hospital bed in his country’s hour of need and becoming the batting hero, as the Lancashire left hander did in the fourth test of the 1932-3 Ashes). Salman Agha and Aamer Jamal took their partnership past the 100 mark, but at 191 Jack Leach pinned Agha LBW for 63. Shaheen Shah Afridi resisted for a time, but after an over in which Brydon Carse gave him a tough time he drilled one back at Leach who took a superb return catch to make it 214-8. Naseem Shah got off the mark with a six, but missed another huge heave at the next ball and was stumped by Smith to end proceedings with Pakistan 47 short of avoiding the innings defeat. Leach’s polishing off of the tail gave him innings figures of 4-30, the stuff of miracles on this pitch, and match figures of 7-190. To put those figures in their true perspective, it means he took his wickets in this match at 27.14 each, while outside of his efforts the total score was 1,409-19, an average of 74.16 per wicket. Pakistan’s 556 is the highest first innings total by any side to lose a test match by an innings. There have been two higher scores in the first innings of a match by a side who ended up beaten: Bangladesh 595-8 declared v New Zealand quite recently, and Australia’s 586 at Sydney in 1894, when overnight rain at the end of the fifth day of a timeless match saw Australia caught on a vicious sticky and spun to defeat by Bobby Peel and Johnny Briggs, 113-2 becoming 166 all out and a loss by ten runs. Pakistan under Shan Masood have now lost six successive matches. The second match of this series starts, also in Multan, on Tuesday.
A look at developments in the first test of the Pakistan v England series, currently taking place in Multan, a link to an important campaign and a photo gallery.
The England men’s test side are currently in Pakistan, contesting the first match of a three match series. Multan is the venue.
PAKISTAN’S FIRST INNINGS
Pakistan won the toss and chose to bat. Abdullah Shafique and skipper Shan Masood shared a s second wicket stand of 253, and there were further major contributions from Saud Shakeel (82) and Salman Agha (104*) to boost the total to 556. Leach had 3-160 from 40 overs, Atkinson and Carse each claimed two wickets, while Bashir, Root and Woakes took one each. Though he was the most economical of the bowlers, going at precisely three runs per over, Woakes did precious little to suggest that he is worth his place overseas. Ben Duckett injured a thumb taking the catch that ended the Pakistan innings.
ENGLAND’S REPLY
Pope opened in place of Duckett and fell for a duck, but Crawley and Root saw things through to the end of the second day with the score 96-1.
Crawley donated his wicket with a really poor shot off Shaheen Shah Afridi, to make it 113-2 early this morning, but Duckett, now fit to bat, came in at number four and played excellently in partnership with Root. The third wicket stand had reached 136 when Aamer Jamal trapped Duckett LBW for a splendid 84 to make it 249-3. That brought Harry Brook to the crease, and neither he nor Root ever looked in any trouble from the Pakistan bowlers, though the Multan heat caused Root problems, in the form of cramps. By the time Brook joined the fray Root had already established himself as England’s all time leading test run scorer, having started the innings needing 71 to overhaul Cook’s tally, and now the milestones clocked up frequently: 50 to Brook, 100 to Root, 100 to Brook, 150 to Root. By the time stumps were pulled England had reached 492-3 and the partnership between the two Yorkies was worth an unbroken 243. Abrar Ahmed had bowled 35 overs for 174 and was wicketless. That included one spell of 23 overs, the longest wicketless spell by anyone against England since Old Trafford 2005 when Shane Warne bowled w=a wicketless spell of 24 overs. Root had 176 not out by the end of the day, having faced 277 balls and hit 12 fours, and thus run 128 of his own runs. Brook was 141 not out from 173 balls, with 12 fours and one six. The pitch has not yet shown any signs of breaking up, and Pakistan’s bowlers have by and large looked clueless. A draw would seem likely to because the pitch is emasculating the bowlers, but I could see an England win, if they bat well tomorrow, and Pakistan after a long time in the field and facing a large deficit, not to be expected after scoring 550, become dispirited and their second innings collapses. In total 250 overs have been bowled so far – 16 fewer than should have been allowing two overs for each innings break. Current scorecard here.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Just before my usual sign off, I have a link to share. The British sugar beet industry is seeking an ’emergency exemption’ from the ban on the use of Neonicitinoids for would if granted be a fifth successive year, hence the use of the use of speech marks around the key phrase. These pesticides are more poisonous gram for gram than DDT. It is time for two things:
The government needs to stand up to the sugar beet people and refuse them their exemption.
The right to apply for an emergency exemption then needs to be officially removed – the sugar beet industry has blatantly been abusing it, requesting such exemptions year after year rather than getting used to life without dangerous pesticides.
Butterfly Conservation are running a petition against the granting of this emergency exemption, which you can access here. There are four days left to do this. Image link below.
A look back at the events of the third Pakistan v England test, which ended in the early hours of yesterday morning UK time.
At just about 5:40AM UK time yesterday Ben Duckett smashed a four to take England from 166-2 to 170-2 in the final innings of the test series in Pakistan, and in so doing created a piece of cricket history – no visiting side had ever won a clean sweep in a three+ match series in Pakistan until that moment. This post looks back at the events of the third match of the series (I covered the first two matches extensively already) and then at the key moments of this extraordinary series.
THIRD TEST: DAY ONE
Rehan Ahmed was given a debut for England, and Ben Foakes was recalled to the XI, Will Jacks and James Anderson being rested. For Pakistan Nauman Ali played in place Zahid Mahmood. Babar Azam won the toss and decided to bat, which looked like good news for Pakistan. Pakistan scored 304, with various players making useful runs but no one getting a massive score, and by the close England had lost Crawley. Nevertheless, England would have considered getting Pakistan all out on day one a good day’s work.
DAY TWO
England looked to be struggling at 145-5, when Ben Foakes joined Harry Brook, but a big stand between these two and some useful contributions from the rest of the order saw England to 354, a first innings advantage of 50. Pakistan were 21-0 by the close.
DAY THREE
This was the day the fate of the match was settled. Pakistan were 54-3 at one point, all three wickets to Leach to give him seven in the match. Then Babar Azam and Saud Shakeel shared a century stand. The key turning point came when Babar Azam smashed a slow long hop from Rehan Ahmed straight to Pope at midwicket. From then on the Pakistan middle and lower order imploded, a combination of poor shots from them and good work from England seeing a high water mark of 164-3 turn into 216 all out. Rehan Ahmed had 5-48 and Joe Root nabbed a wicket with his occasional off spin. Rehan Ahmed’s debut match figures of 7-137 were the best such by an England leg spinner since Charles ‘Father’ Marriott took 11-96 v West Indies at The Oval in 1933. Marriott, then 37 and a part time cricketer (he worked as a schoolmaster and turned out for Kent in the summer holidays) never played for England again, Ahmed should do so on many occasions. Leach’s seven wickets with his left arm spin were enough to make him the leading test wicket taker of 2022.
England needed 167 to win and there were 17 overs to be bowled that evening. Traditional test thinking would suggest a cautious approach and looking to get through without losing any wickets, but Crawley and Duckett set off at a merry pace. When Crawley was out Stokes made a typical Stokes move – the events of Pakistan’s second innings suggested that this was Rehan Ahmed’s day, so Stokes sent him in at number three. This divided opinion among those following the match – some, like me, thought it was superb, others grumbled about it being disrespectful to Pakistan. It had limited success, Ahmed making a rapid 10, but I think it was right nevertheless. In 1986 when John Bracewell scored his maiden test hundred against England, NZ skipper Jeremy Coney tossed him the ball that evening although it was earlier in the England innings than he would usually have deployed his off spinner, and was rewarded with a wicket – it was Bracewell’s day. Stokes then went in himself for the remainder of the evening. Stokes and Duckett played well together and England closed on 112-2, 55 short of victory. I thought, as I said in my post on Monday that this was far preferable to 40-0.
DAY FOUR
Stokes and Duckett never looked like doing anything other than knocking the runs off and the main focus of interest soon became whether Ben Stokes could hit his 108th career test match six, thereby breaking the record held by England head coach Brendon McCullum. The answer to that was no, and with McCullum’s native New Zealand being England’s next opponents the two are tied on 107 sixes in test cricket. England won by eight wickets, with among those not to bat in the innings being Root (thin series but still England’s finest), Brook (soon to collect both the Player of the Match and Player of the Series awards) and Pope. This time last year a rabble of an England test team were being obliterated in Australia, and if you had told me that 12 months on an England test side would be winning 3-0 away from home without Root scoring many runs I would have laughed outright.
PLAYER RATINGS
These my England player ratings in batting order:
Zak Crawley 4 – failed in the first innings, made a half decent score in the second.
Ben Duckett 8 – a comparative failure first up (26), but 82* in the final innings rounded out an excellent comeback series for him.
Ollie Pope 6.5 – a 50 in the only innings in which he batted, and although he was gifted it by a terrible shot from the batter his catch to dismiss Babar Azam and start the implosion of the Pakistan second innings was a good one.
Joe Root 5 – a duck in the only innings in which he batted, but three wickets for him across the two Pakistan innings count for something.
Harry Brook 9 – a superb century which pulled England out of some strife in the first innings. He had a superb series and should be part of the England test side for many years to come.
Ben Stokes 8.5 – a fairly quiet match for Stokes the player (26 and 35* with the bat, eight overs for 20 with the ball) though that second innings carried England to victory, but a fantastic match for Stokes the captain.
Ben Foakes 7.5 – a good and much needed 50 in the only innings in which he was needed to bat, and impeccable as ever behind the stumps.
Rehan Ahmed 8.5 – had a great time with the ball, and an entertaining one as “night hawk” in the final innings. His success bodes well for England’s future.
Ollie Robinson 6 – a useful contribution with the bat in England’s first innings, and didn’t do a lot wrong with the ball, though this was never a surface to suit him and his light workload reflects that fact.
Mark Wood 7 – an entertaining cameo with the bat, and on a surface that offered nothing to a fast bowler he gave it everything he had every time he was asked to bowl.
Jack Leach 7 – England’s work horse in this match – 57 overs across the two innings yielded him combined figures of 7-212 and his scalps included Abdullah Shafique (who had made a splendid start to his test career until this match) in both innings and Shan Masood and Azhar Ali (giving the latter a Bradman-like end to his career – bowled for a duck by an English spinner who batted at number 11) in the second – four of his seven scalps thus coming from the top three in the Pakistan order.
SERIES KEY MOMENTS
Day one – England score 500 in 75 overs. This set a template for attacking cricket, and indicated that England weren’t about to just settle for an all round boosting of batting averages on a flat pitch.
Day four – THAT declaration – Stokes sets Pakistan 343 in four sessions, albeit knowing that the light will be truncating the first and fourth of those sessions.
Day five – England keep pressing, and claim the final wicket with maybe 1.3 overs left before the light closed proceedings.
Second test day one – England attack on a turner. Many criticized England’s approach in the first innings of this match, but they managed 281 from 51.4 overs, and my own belief is that they would have made many fewer runs had they been obsessed with batting time. England went on to win, as a fourth innings target of over 350 proved too much for Pakistan.
Third test day one – England bowl Pakistan out in less than a day after the latter have chosen to bat.
Day two – England bounce back from 145-5 to claim a first innings lead of 50.
Day three – Rehan Ahmed takes five wickets as Pakistan slump from 164-3 to 216 all out, England knock off two thirds of their victory target in the 17 overs they have to face that evening.
Day four – Stokes and Duckett carry England to an eight wicket victory, Duckett making the winning hit, which means that England whose total tally of test match wins in Pakistan prior to this series totalled two had secured a 3-0 win in this series.
PHOTOGRAPHS
These pictures are split – I left the camera I took them with at work on Thursday, which was the peak of the freeze and retrieved it yesterday. To further increase the variation there are some night time pictures there…
A look at how it is that England stand on the threshold of a historic clean sweep of the test series in Pakistan, plus some photographs.
This post will be a fairly brief one, setting the scene for a more detailed one on Wednesday. The main subject is the match that is nearing its end in Karachi. No visiting men’s team has ever won every match of a three+ match test series in Pakistan, and as things stand England, already 2-0 up in the series are 55 runs away from victory with eight wickets standing (and three of those waiting to bat are Root, Pope and Brook, the latter two of whom have had outstanding series) in the final game. This match has featured three things until Stokes was appointed skipper have been in very short supply for the England men’s test team in recent years, and I tackle each in turn.
A WIN ORIENTED MINDSET
England have all too often approached test matches from a perspective of ‘must not lose’. Under Stokes that has very much become the correct ‘must win’ attitude. The first match of the current series, when Stokes boldly offered Pakistan a target of 342 in four sessions (albeit knowing that due to limited daylight both the first and fourth of said sessions would be of reduced length) exemplified this, as did the way England started their chase of 167 for victory in Karachi – rather than ‘make sure we don’t lose any wickets’ Stokes and England opted to see if they could win it before the end of the third day.
PUBLICLYBACKING PLAYERS
There have been two outstanding on-field examples of this in the current match: Harry Brook caused Stokes to be run out, and Stokes as he left the crease made a point of telling Brook not to worry about it. Brook duly scored a superb century. Today Rehan Ahmed took 5-48, a splendid performance (more on this and him in Wednesday’s post), especially for an 18 year old debutant, and when Crawley was first out Stokes decided that was Ahmed’s day and sent him in at number three to play the ‘night hawk’ role – an attacking version of the ‘night watch’ role. Ahmed only scored 10, but he hit two boundaries and helped maintain England’s momentum. Stokes himself went in at number four, but the light closed in. Nevertheless, so much of the task has already been accomplished that even if Pakistan start tomorrow sensationally it is hard to see England even getting nervous, never mind succumbing to those nerves – doing what England did is far preferable to a more conventional 40-0, and almost 130 still needed.
SPIN BOWLING
English pitches these days do not often favour spinners with the result that England have struggled in that department in recent times. Jack Leach took his 100th test wicket during this series, and in the period in which I have been an active cricket fan (mid 1980s to present) only one England spinner has taken over 100 test wickets at a better average than Leach – Graeme Swann (Derek Underwood played some of his career during my lifetime, but benefitted from uncovered pitches for much of his career – on a rain affected pitch, or at the other extreme, a dustbowl, he was truly ‘Deadly’, but on ordinary surfaces he was merely very accurate, and I don’t think he would take his wickets at much if anything below 30 each these days). In this match Leach and debutant Rehan Ahmed each claimed seven wickets, and even Joe Root had some success with the ball. This is important – many of those talking about England’s approach under Stokes are understandably dazzled by the incredible batting, but to win a match you generally need to take 20 wickets, and one reason England are poised for ninth win in ten test matches is that they have taken all ten of their opponents wickets in each of the last 19 innings in which they have bowled.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Before my regular photos I have two others that have appeared in previous posts to share for a special reason: Karachi is regarded as something of a fortress for Pakistan, and England are 55 runs away from taking it by storm, so which of the two photographs below do you think is more apt for the circumstances:
Please comment with your answer.
Now for my usual sign off…
My last auction purchase of 2022 (eight images total)Installed in the Cabinet of Curiosities next to another piece of railway themed silver.Local pond at the peak of the recent cold snap (two pics)At the Autistic Group at King’s Lynn library, where I enjoy the lego (two pics)The next five pics show the same pond that was frozen solid as it is today in less vicious temperatures.
A look at England’s win in Multan, sealed earlier today.
This post looks at events in Multan and sets them in context. I have already covered the first two days play here, so this post takes up the story on day three.
DAY THREE
England extended their lead of 281 to 354, Brook completing a century to continue the highly impressive start he has made in test cricket. The last five wickets fell in a bit of a heap, but England had a substantial total to defend by then.
With Imam-ul-Haq initially unable to bat Mohammad Rizwan opened with Abdullah Shafique. These two both fell cheaply, and Babar Azam was also out with Pakistan massively adrift, but at that point Imam-ul-Haq joined Saud Shakeel, and they had a good partnership. Just before the end of the day Leach got Imam-ul-Haque for 60, and by the close Pakistan were 198-5, still needing 157 to win.
DAY FOUR
Saud Shakeel and Mohammad Nawaz got Pakistan to within 70 of the target, but Wood got both in a fiery spell just before the lunch interval, albeit the Shakeel dismissal was a rough one. Agha Salman and Abrar Ahmed resisted for a time immediately after the interval, but Anderson got Abrar Ahmed, and moments later Zahid Mahmood became Wood’s fourth victim. That left the last pair needing 36 runs to win, and they managed nine of them before number 11, Mohammad Ali edged Robinson to Pope to end that match. England were home by 26 runs. Many, including me, would have given debutant Abrar Ahmed the Player of the Match award for his 11 wickets and entertaining batting in both innings, and had been forced to name an England player for the honour I would have gone with Ben Duckett who played two superb innings, but landmark obsession carried the day, and Brook got it for his second innings hundred.
CONTEXT AND LOOKING AHEAD
This win was England’s eighth in nine test matches since Ben Stokes was appointed full time skipper. It also meant that in the space of a week they had doubled their all time tally of wins in Pakistan from two (in 1962 and 2000) to four. Pakistan are the fourth team England have won against (out of four they have played tests against) under Stokes – they came here off the back of home series wins over New Zealand and South Africa and a win in a one-off home test against India. England’s last win in Pakistan before this visit came at Karachi in 2000, and the third and final match of this series is in Karachi.
Jack Leach took his 100th test wicket during this match, and only one England spinner in my time following the game has taken that many wickets at a better average than him, Graeme Swann.
I would personally like to see Rehan Ahmed make his debut in the third test match, possibly in place of Will Jacks – with the series already won England can definitely allow themselves a look at Ahmed.
PHOTOGRAPHS
As this little gallery makes abundantly clear, Norfolk remains literally frozen…
A look at the first two days of the second Pakistan v England test, which is taking place in Multan.
Greetings from the frozen wastes of Norfolk. It is currently four degrees outside with a significant wind chill, and that represents the least bad it has been in the last 48 hours. The second test of the Pakistan v England series is currently taking place in Multan, and may even finish tomorrow, while I would bet money against there being a day five.
THE PRELIMINARIES
England decided to persist with Pope as keeper and number three even though Foakes was available. Mark Wood came into the side to strengthen the bowling. For Pakistan there was a debut for leg spinner Abrar Ahmed and a recall for Faheem Ashraf. Ben Stokes won the toss and chose to bat first. This was soon seen to be a correct call as there was already evidence of turn on day one.
DAY ONE
Ben Duckett made a fluent 63 and Ollie Pope 60, and there were some other useful contributions down the order. The story of the innings however was the debutant Abrar Ahmed, who took the first seven wickets to fall with his leg spin. This puts him second on the all time list to Alf Valentine who took the first eight wickets to fall in his debut match. The other leg spinner, Zahid Mahmood broke the sequence, and in the end claimed the last three wickets. England were all out for 281 from 51.4 overs, and some were condemning the team’s new, much more aggressive approach. However my own reckoning was that England of a year or so ago would not have batted much if any longer on this pitch and would have scored many fewer runs. Also of course, first innings efforts should really be assessed only after both teams have batted – and that would apply with a vengeance this time round.
Pakistan batted well in the remaining overs of day one, reaching 107-2. Babar Azam was especially impressive, while James Anderson, the man who just keeps on bowlin’, claimed the first wicket to fall to seam bowling in the match and Jack Leach extended the tally of wickets taking by bespectacled spinners to eight. With Pakistan looking well placed the would be writers of ‘bazball obituaries’ were having themselves a field day in spite of England’s record since Stokes assumed the captaincy full time being won seven, lost one.
DAY TWO
Pakistan seemed to start day two as they had finished day one, scoring well, but then Babar Azam fell for 75 to make is 145-3. Mohammad Rizwan took his place in the middle and the game tilted on its axis. It took Rizwan 25 balls to get off the mark, and even with two fours he managed in total 10 off 43 balls, and Pakistan went into a tailspin. Leach picked up his second, third and fourth wickets of the innings,, Root bagged two in an over with his part time off spin and Wood took two wickets along the way. It was only a lusty last wicket stand between Faheem Ashraf and Abrar Ahmed that got Pakistan past 200. They were all out 202, and England had a 79 run lead on first innings, precisely the same advantage they enjoyed in Rawalpindi, but one that looked a lot more significant on this surface.
England lost two early wickets, Crawley running himself out and Jacks promoted to number three in order that Pope could have more of a rest from his keeping. Root also failed by his own high standards, but Duckett played superbly once again, scoring 79. His dismissal, bowled by one from Abrar Ahmed that shot through low, was an ominous sign for Pakistan – they had needed him out, but they did not need to see a ball doing that with England already over 220 runs to the good. Pope was run out cheaply to make it 155-5, but skipper Stokes stayed with Brook until the light brought an early end to proceedings. By then England were 202-5, 281 runs ahead, with Brook 74* and Stokes 16*. Abrar Ahmed had taken his tally of wickets on debut to 10, but the two run outs meant that he could not equal the record performance by a debutant (16 wickets, achieved twice, by Bob Massie of Australia in 1972 and Narendra Hirwani of India in 1989). The alacrity with which Pakistan headed for the pavilion when the umpires decided the light was no longer good enough was telling as to their state of mind just two days into this match. The events of this second day’s play, rather like the events post Stokes’ declaration at Rawalpindi, left the naysayers looking more than a little foolish. It is dollars to doughnuts that at some point tomorrow or Monday the series score will be 2-0 to England.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Just before the photographs, I shared an old post in a twitter discussion this morning and it was well received. Now for my usual sign off…
An account of the closing stages of a classic test match and some photographs.
This post looks at the extraordinary events that unfolded in Rawalpindi this morning UK time.
AN EXTRAORDINARY FINISH
At the tea interval Pakistan were 257-5 chasing the target of 343 that Ben Stokes had dangled before them precisely a day earlier. Thus this match went into the final session with all results possible (the draw being in the equation due to the fact the fading light would force a halt at approximately 4:45PM local time) rather than the players heading out for an hour of meaningless cricket before the umpires were officially allowed to confirm the draw as would have happened had any current international skipper other than Stokes been in charge of the visiting side on such a flat pitch. Many, especially those who had objected to the Stokes declaration reckoned that the Pakistan victory was the most likely outcome, but that neglected both the time limit imposed by fading light and the fact that the pair in occupation, Azhar Ali and Agha Salman, were their team’s last recognized batters – Pakistan had four genuine tail enders in their team. Agha Salman was the first to fall post tea, and then crucially Azhar Ali was seventh out, leaving the tail enders needing to cobble 83 together to win or else to survive until the light halted play. Anderson removed numbers 9 and 10 in the same over to claim his third and fourth scalps of the innings, drawing level with Ollie Robinson who also had four wickets. Zahid Mahmood joined Naseem Shah, and they held out determinedly for some time.
Eventually the third ball of the the 97th over of the innings, bowled by Jack Leach, pinned Naseem Shah plumb in front. He sent it upstairs, but it was never really in doubt. By my reckoning the wicket fell with nine balls remaining before the light forced an abandonment. Pakistan were all out for 268, and England had won by 74 runs. I hope those who criticized the declaration are enjoying their portions of humble pie – England needed the time they gave themselves to take those 10 wickets. The last visiting side to play a test match in Rawalpindi, Australia in March, had their full first choice bowling attack and managed to take precisely four wickets in the entire match, so for a weakened England to claim all 20 of the opposition wickets was outstanding.
Ollie Robinson was named Player of the Match for his bowling efforts (I would have given it to Stokes for his captaincy, which transformed what have been an Old Trafford 1964 style snoozefest into a test match for the ages – I rank it second among those I have witnessed live behind Edgbaston 2005, but absent that it was right to honour Robinson for his great bowling effort on a lifeless pitch). I stand by every word of my criticisms of this pitch in earlier posts – it was Ben Stokes who engineered a compelling test match out of nothing on a surface that was ridiculously loaded in favour of the batters. England faced only just over half as many overs as Pakistan in the course of the match, winning it because they quite literally scored twice as fast as Pakistan. This match set many records: Highest match aggregate for test match with a definite result, highest match aggregate for a time limited test match (the first and second highest scoring test matches were both supposed to be timeless but were abandoned as draws when the visitors had to travel home, hence this match gaining these two records. Pakistan’s 847 is the most runs ever scored by a side losing a test match, and their 579 is the highest first innings score by a home side to lose a time limited test match (Australia lost after scoring 586 first up at the SCG in 1894, when overnight rain after the fifth day’s play in a timeless match turned the uncovered pitch into a vicious sticky dog and a hung over Bobby Peel claimed six cheap wickets with his left arm spin on the sixth morning, to give England victory by 10 runs). A final note from this remarkable match: James Anderson conceded just 2.35 runs per over, while the average economy rate of every other bowler in the match was 5.09 per over. A full scorecard can be viewed here, and I have included a video of the winning wicket below:
aspiblog 