England battled their way into a decent position after day one of the series-deciding third Test against Pakistan in Rawalpindi, reducing their hosts to 73-3 in reply to their 266.
Jamie Smith’s brilliant 89 off 119 balls first rescued England from a perilous position of 118-6 after a collapse of four for 28 prior to lunch was swiftly added to with the wicket of skipper Ben Stokes (12) soon after the interval.
In the evening session, Shoaib Bashir, Jack Leach and Gus Atkinson all then struck as Pakistan’s first innings got off to a sputtering start.
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Friday 25th October 5:50am
The preparation of the Rawalpindi pitch has been the subject of much discussion in the build-up to the Test, with Pakistan seeking a turning track much like the used Multan surface they romped to victory on a week ago to level the series.
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Noman Ali strikes again to down Ben Duckett in another big breakthrough for Pakistan against England.
The odd ball did turn, with a few also keeping low – Ben Duckett (52) particularly unfortunate to fall lbw when struck about ankle-height after a fine half-century – but 267 looked a below-par score before England too made inroads with ball in hand late in the day.
Stokes wore a giddy smile after winning the toss, knowing that Pakistan’s tireless efforts to produce a worn surface could now play in his side’s favour, his decision to bat first more crucially setting up the opportunity to bowl last.
Duckett and Zak Crawley (29) only added to England’s buoyant mood as they added 56 for the first wicket over the opening hour before the latter skewed a loose drive to backward point off Noman Ali (3-88).
The badly-out-of-form Ollie Pope wore all of his series struggles in a jittery and jabby 14-ball 3 before falling lbw to Sajid Khan (6-128), the first of his six wickets in the innings – and the first of two in consecutive overs to trigger a top-order collapse.
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Ollie Pope and Joe Root fall to the spin of Pakistan’s Sajid Khan as England lose two key wickets on the third Test in Rawalpindi.
Joe Root (5) also succumbed cheaply to the off-spinner, a sharp turner trapping England’s star batter lbw on the back foot, while Duckett departed soon after notching his 12th Test fifty and Harry Brook (5) was bowled round his legs by Sajid when sweeping.
Stokes became Sajid’s fourth victim when nicking off to slip soon after lunch, but far from meekly subside in the remainder of the afternoon session, Smith and Gus Atkinson blasted England back into the game with a sensational 105-run stand for the seventh wicket.
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Gus Atkinson smashes three boundaries off Zahid Mahmood over during the afternoon session.
Atkinson smashed three fours off one Zahid Mahmood over, but it was Smith who generally played the role of aggressor, taking on the straight boundaries to great effect off Pakistan’s spinners, clearing the ropes on six occasions and adding five boundaries.
The century stand was finally ended in somewhat tame fashion as Atkinson chipped a return catch back to Noman, while Smith top-edged Zahir (1-44) when 11 short of a second Test ton as he for once looked to slog-sweep rather than hit straight and it proved to be his downfall.
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England’s Jamie Smith falls just nine short of a brilliant century on day one of the Third Test against Pakistan.
The tail provided little resistance beyond the tea interval, with Sajid wrapping up the innings and his six-for as Pakistan set about their reply with the bat.
Bashir (1-29) struck first for England, picking up Abdullah Shafique (14) lbw, while Leach (1-33) added his opening partner Saim Ayub (19), before Atkinson (1-2) bowled second-Test centurion Kamran Ghulam (3) through the gate with a beauty to reduce Pakistan to 46-3.
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Shoaib Bashir makes the breakthrough for England as Abdullah Shafique departs for 14.
England were actually rewarded with a couple of further wickets on field, but a couple of curious decisions by umpire Sharfuddoula were correctly overturned on DRS, with no bat detected on either of the appeals for close-in catches off Ayub on 13 and Saud Shakeel when on 1.
Shakeel (16no) and his captain Shan Masood (16no) instead live to fight another day, with the Test and the series nicely in the balance going into day two.
First Test: Multan – October 7-11 – England won by an innings and 47 runs
Second Test: Multan – October 15-19 – Pakistan won by 152 runs
Third Test: Rawalpindi – October 24-28
Watch day two of the second Test between Pakistan and England in Rawalpindi, live on Sky Sports Cricket and Main Event from 5.50am on Friday, ahead of play starting from 6am. Stream with NOW