England’s bowlers are not getting enough time to rest and recuperate under the Bazball era, says Sky Sports’ Nasser Hussain.
Under head coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes, England’s ultra-positive and aggressive mentality has helped them score runs quickly to put the opposition under pressure, but it often leads to a tight turnaround between innings meaning their bowlers don’t get enough downtime.
England’s seamers and spinners accounted evenly for the 10 wickets in Pakistan’s first innings, bowling the hosts out for 556 in 149 overs, before Zak Crawley’s (64no) half-century helped the visitors post 96-1 at stumps on day two in Multan.
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Highlights of day two of the first Test between Pakistan and England
“In this Bazball era, they get their runs so quickly that the bowlers are on and off the field so fast and they aren’t having as much rest as they are used to have in previous times,” said Hussain on Sky Sports Cricket.
“It’s something to keep an eye out in this heat. For England, they need to get as close as possible, and for Pakistan, just make sure you bowl England out and try to push on and win.
“The only thing I would say in this part of the world is be careful for two reasons.
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“One, you can have two first innings that are very similar and then in your third innings you don’t know whether to stick or twist.
“And two, in this part of the world, the game moves very, very slowly and then suddenly on day five it starts doing peculiar things off those cracks or it starts spinning.
“The key for England will be to get as close as possible and by doing that you give the bowlers a rest and the second time round, they have got the energy levels to bowl the opposition out.”
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Jamie Smith missed an opportunity to stump Abrar Ahmed out for a duck before Gus Atkinson drops a catch moments later from the same player
England’s exhaustion became apparent in the evening session when wicketkeeper Jamie Smith missed an easy stumping chance and pace bowler Gus Atkinson (2-99) dropped Abrar Ahmed at midwicket when they were on the cusp of bowling Pakistan out.
The mistake only cost England six runs but, more crucially, it also saw their opener Ben Duckett suffer an injured thumb after taking a catch at slip.
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Injury woes for England as Ben Duckett signals immediately to the dressing room with a suspected dislocated thumb after taking a catch to dismiss Abrar Ahmed
Had England taken the chances prior, Duckett would have been fit to open the batting as per usual instead of Ollie Pope, who was later dismissed for a duck.
Under the McCullum-Stokes era, England have conceded 500 twice and won both times. The first was against New Zealand at Trent Bridge and the second was during their previous trip to Pakistan in 2022 at Rawalpindi.
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Nasser Hussain suggests England should call-up a specialist opener if Ben Duckett is sidelined but thinks they’ll go with a similar batting order as on day two of the first Test. He also discusses potential options to replace Olly Stone as he leaves
“That’s one thing about England’s batting line-up that they score their runs so quickly, they can creep up on you,” added Hussain.
“Zak Crawley’s break has probably done him good. Because he hits through the line so well, he can nail you. Your margin for error on line and length is miniscule.”
“Apart from 15 minutes either side of tea when England looked absolutely exhausted, I thought they did really well.
“How can you say that when the opposition got 556 and there’s three scores of hundreds in there? You have to look at how England have gone out to bat.
“It’s a flat wicket, maybe five balls of swing for Naseem Shah and Shaheen Shah Afridi but there’s been no reverse-swing.
“During England’s last tour out here, reverse-swing was key and Stokes’ captaincy was to be defensive until that reverse-swing came into play.
“Test cricket can’t afford this pitch to be like this for five days, no wonder no-one is in.”
Carse: Stokesy said it doesn’t get tougher
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Brydon Carse took his first England Test wicket thanks to a catch from Harry Brook behind the stumps to dismiss Naseem Shah for 26
England pace bowler Brydon Carse, who is making his Test debut, finished with figures of 2-74. He bowled 22 overs in the Multan heat, three of which were maidens.
Carse’s first Test wicket came in the form of Pakistan’s nightwatchman Naseem Shah (33) before the Durham seamer trapped Aamer Jamal (7) leg-before in the afternoon session.
“It’s been hard work and hard toil over the last two days but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the challenge.
“Stokesy said to me after we came in after we fielded that it’s not going to get as tough as this over the last two days and he reassured me.
“There were times when the heat was probably the biggest challenge and obviously the wicket, but as a group of bowlers everyone kept coming back in short bursts.
“I think it [no reverse-swing] did surprise me. There was a lot of short-pitched bowling and a lot of changing of fields but hopefully in the second innings we can get that ball reversing quite quickly.
“I had a conversation with [Chris] Woakes and [Gus] Atkinson at the end, and their legs were hanging on. The lads will rest up tonight and go back to it tomorrow.
“I’ve been in the red most of these two days even with the constant consumption of water and fluids.”
First Test: Multan – October 7-11
Second Test: Multan – October 15-19
Third Test: Rawalpindi – October 24-28
Every match from the 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup is also live on Sky Sports from October 3-20 with Australia aiming for a third straight title and seventh overall, and England seeking to triumph for the first time since the inaugural edition in 2009.
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 Tuesday, 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!