England continue to battle hard in the first Test against Pakistan in Multan, but closed day two 460 runs behind their hosts at 96-1 in their first innings.
The tourists’ task has been made all the tougher by an injury to opener Ben Duckett when taking the final Pakistan wicket to fall. The extent of the damage to his left thumb and whether he can bat in this innings or the remainder of the Test is not yet known.
Sky Sports’ Nasser Hussain said on commentary: “I’m hearing from the England camp that they’re hoping the injury will settle down tonight.
“He is not going for a scan so they must be positive about it.”
Live Test Cricket
Wednesday 9th October 5:50am
Pakistan racked up 556 in their first innings on this desperately flat Multan pitch, England’s bowlers toiling away admirably again but without much reward.
Brydon Carse (2-74) claimed his maiden Test wicket when removing stubborn nightwatchman Naseem Shah (33) and while Mohammad Rizwan fell to Jack Leach (3-160) for a duck soon after, Salman Agha (104no) strode out to the middle and promptly struck a sublime 108-ball century – the third for the innings.
England, disrupted by the injury to Duckett just as they were about to bat, then lost captain Ollie Pope – moved to the top of the order – for a duck, out to a stunning diving catch by Aamer Jamal at midwicket.
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Ollie Pope was out for a duck after a spectacular catch from Aamir Jamal got Pakistan off to the perfect start in their fielding innings
But Zac Crawley (64no) and Joe Root (32no) gave a nod again to the belting batting track as they shared in an unbroken 92-run stand through to stumps to give hope of a continued England fightback on day three.
Just as on the opening day’s play, the visitors grafted away with the ball, particularly in the morning, only to be frustrated by a 64-run partnership between Saud Shakeel (82) and Naseem.
Though the pair proved hard to dislodge, the scoring rate was at least slowed significantly – only 69 runs added in the opening session – and when Carse finally struck on debut, followed by Leach removing Rizwan, Pakistan were wobbling somewhat at 393-6.
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Brydon Carse got his first England Test wicket thanks to a catch from Harry Brook behind the stumps to send Naseem Shah walking for 26 runs
Shakeel and Agha rebuilt after lunch, progressing the score to 450 before Shoaib Bashir (1-124) picked up the former with a beauty, edged to slip, and Carse claimed a second when pinning Jamal (7) in front – again, two wickets falling in the space of three overs.
England would have been thrilled at dismissing Pakistan for anything less than 500 on such a flat deck but Agha countered superbly, taking advantage of an exhausted England attack that was noticeably fading as the innings extended.
Agha did survive one notable scare when on only 15, fortunate to see a Chris Woakes relayed catch to himself on the long-off boundary eventually called a six – a sensational effort from the veteran all-rounder sadly going unrewarded as his right foot was only just still in contact with the ground beyond the boundary rope.
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A look at all twelve of Ollie Pope’s failed reviews during England’s Test series with Sri Lanka
There was also a 12th unsuccessful review out of 12 from Pope as skipper as he hopefully called for DRS when Agha was on 67, only for Leach’s delivery to be pitching outside leg stump.
Agha would go on to notch a richly-deserved third Test ton, with Leach finally seeing off Shaheen Afridi (26) two balls later to end their vital 85-run partnership for the ninth wicket.
Surprisingly, it didn’t prompt a declaration and England then spurned two golden opportunities to end the innings sooner as Jamie Smith fluffed an easy stumping of Abrar Ahmed and Gus Atkinson dropped a sitter an over later before Root finally took his wicket – albeit at a cost, with the injury to Duckett.
Such a ragged end to the innings, and with the loss of Duckett resulting in a rejigged batting lineup, there would have been huge concern in the England ranks with the sudden dismissal of their skipper in the second over of their reply.
But Crawley and Root batted determinedly through to stumps without further loss, Crawley in particular looking in fine touch as he cashed in with 11 boundaries in his unbeaten half-century.
Watch day three of the first Test between Pakistan and England in Multan, live on Sky Sports Cricket and Main Event from 5.50am on Wednesday, ahead of play starting from 6am. Stream with NOW
Fabio Wardley’s huge rematch with Frazer Clarke is on the epic Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol bill on Saturday October 12 live on Sky Sports Box Office. Book Wardley v Clarke 2 and Beterbiev v Bivol now!