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45th over: Pakistan 178-6 (Salman 59, Jamal 35) Jamal is okay to continue. He knows what’s coming because England have a 2/7 field, and one of the two is a fly slip.
Carse keeps him waiting by bowling a length delivery, to which Jamal gets solidly in line. A bouncer goes over his shoulder and a shortish delivery is steered to the right of the fly slip for a couple.
Pakistan need 89 runs to make England bat again.
44.2 overs: Pakistan 174-6 (Salman 59, Jamal 33) Ouch. Jamal turns his back on a bouncer from Carse that follows him and clatters into the back of the helmet. He kisses his helmet and seems okay, but he’ll need a concussion test.
44th over: Pakistan 174-6 (Salman 59, Jamal 31) Salman and Jamal look pretty comfortable. Let’s take the positives: one last bit of hard yakka will make England appreciate this victory even more. That spell yesterday evening, when Pakistan were still a bit shell-shocked, was pivotal to the (probable) result of this game. Had England wasted the new ball they might be facing a bore draw.
43rd over: Pakistan 170-6 (Salman 56, Jamal 30) Brydon Carse comes on for Woakes and immediately inconveniences Jamal with a sharp lifter. Jamal played it well but looked slightly startled by how much life Carse had managed to extract from the wicket. He’s had a fine debut and, as Athers says on Sky, was the pick of the England attack yesterday.
“As a long standing England supporter still scarred by Adelaide, is there a chance the final record to fall on this ground is for England to be the first team to still lose after scoring such a monumental first innings…” says Tom van der Gucht. “If these guys hang around and get a lead of more than a 100 then England panic falling into a massive collapse where everyone tries tk Bazball on acid their way out of it – throwing wickets away to wild yahoos in a desperate hope of wellying their way out of trouble. I need to lie down.”
I was going to lightly edit your email but I prefer the breathless panic of the original.
42nd over: Pakistan 169-6 (Salman 55, Jamal 30) Salman touches Atkinson to fine leg to reach a really good half-century. Chuck in his first-innings hundred and he has scored 156 runs without being dismissed.
The TV commentators are discussing Pakistan’s squad for the second Test. I can’t see wholesale changes – that’s not how Jason Gillespie works – but there’s a case for asking Babar Azam whether he needs a break to refresh mentally. Graham Gooch did that in 1989 and within a year he was biffing 333.
41st over: Pakistan 162-6 (Salman 48, Jamal 30) Still no real demons in the pitch, so England might have to go to the well to break this partnership. Salman almost saves them the bother when he mishits a pull off Woakes. The ball teases the two short midwickets before landing safely.
“Can I ask: what’s the reasons for the poor crowds?” says Johnny. “I have just seen a drone shot of the ground which shows it is basically oon the edge of a city, not some out-of-town stadium. Is it a pricing issue, loss of interest, or a reflection on the nation’s feelings of this current side? Genuine question, as I don’t think I have ever seen a Test with such an empty stadium.”
You can ask but I’m not sure I have an answer. It’s definitely not a pricing issue, and I fear this kind of crowd is quite normal for a Test in Pakistan these days. During one of the intervals yesterday, Sky showed highlights of Pakistan’s epic win over England on this ground in 2005-06; you couldn’t fail to notice how vibrant the crowd was then.
40th over: Pakistan 161-6 (Salman 47, Jamal 30) Salman guides Atkinson between keeper and gully for four. England don’t have any slips because, well, you’ve seen the pitch haven’t you.
This has been an impressive, proud partnership because it would have been very easy to slog the ball up in the air and get the nightmare over and done with.
39th over: Pakistan 154-6 (Salman 42, Jamal 30) Chris Woakes starts with a short mid-off and short mid-on for Jamal. He flicks a couple of runs to fine leg and defends the rest of the over. A solid start for Pakistan.
38th over: Pakistan 154-6 (Salman 42, Jamal 28) Jamal chips Atkinson not far wide of Carse, one of two short midwickets. England have been very imaginative in the field. That aside, a quiet first over.
In other news, here’s the Test Match Special overseas link.
England only need three wickets today. Abrar Ahmed is still in hospital with a fever, which is a little worrying, so he won’t bat.
Gus Atkinson is going to open the bowling to Salman Ali Agha.
Chris Woakes speaks to Sky Sports
We spent a lot of time in the field and it takes it out of you, so we have to thank the batters for giving us a rest. They put on a masterclass.
It’s been a really good pitch and you’d expect guys to score runs, but the levels of fitness and concentration… it’s an incredible achievement.
[On Harry Brook] You could see incredible talent but you still need to prove it at international level. You can never say, flat out, ‘this kid’s gonna be a star’. You need to put in the hard work to go with that talent and he’s done that.
In these conditions you really want to make the first few overs count, especially when they’ve been out in the field for so long, and thankfully I managed to find a crack with that first delivery. But you do have in the back of your mind: ‘This is the moment’ and you want to put a marker down.
You have to refuel all the time. You literally can’t get enough in. And even though you’re constantly taking on fluids, you hardly ever need to go to the toilet which shows how much you lose.
You don’t want to bowl on pitches like this too often but I think we’ve done a great job as a unit. We’ll keep coming today, however long it takes.
And you thought Ben Stokes’ England were pushing the envelope
This is how good Harry Brook is. Joe Root made his highest Test score, becoming England’s leading runscorer in the process, and he was still partially overshadowed.
Preamble
We shouldn’t take any of this for granted, you know. One day, probably sooner than we expect, England will be crap again and we’ll wonder whether all that Bazball stuff actually happened. They scored eight hundred and how many?
England fans have waited their whole lives for a team like this. They’re not the best in the world, but they might be the most exciting in Test history. And they keep pulling off mind-boggling victories. It started when Jonny Bairstow went berserk at Trent Bridge in 2022, and the list should have another entry today: Multan 2024, when England got blood out of the stone 20 times* and scrawled WE WOZ ERE all over the record books.
Pakistan will resume this morning on 152 for 6, still 115 behind, and it seems unlikely that Abrar Ahmed will bat. Barring the mother of all Danny Morrisons, England will make it four wins out of four in Pakistan under Baz and Ben. Before that their record away to Pakistan (including series in the UAE) was played 31, won two.
I don’t know what else to tell you, so here’s Simon Burnton’s report on a day that, even by England’s standards, was quite extraordinary.
* Or 19 if Abrar doesn’t bat
