Day two report

What a day. England edged in front in the morning before Pakistan ground them down in the afternoon, recovering from 177 for 7 to end up with 344. A three wicket trick at the close puts the home side in a commanding position to take the series.

Oh, and it’s only the end of day two! This match has rattled along. Root and Brook will start in the morning with a deficit of 53 to chip off before Pakistan have to even think about chasing.

Michael Atherton still has hope for England, do you?

Andrew Hill poses the question… I don’t have the brain capacity to crunch the numbers. You have to know your strengths and weaknesses in this life.

“At 19/2, England need to score 102 more runs for their total runs in the second and third tests to equal their monster 823 declared from the first test. Have a test team ever scored more in one innings of a three+ match series than they have in the rest of their innings in that series?”

“Runs after the fall of the sixth wicket so often determines the result of a Test match” emails Gary Naylor. “They’re usually the product of nous, belief and team spirit. England’s tally of 149 yesterday looked good, but it’s been eclipsed by Pakistan’s 189 today, not something many saw coming I suspect. Credit, then, to the much-maligned Shan Masood and Jason Gillespie, who have put their side in the box seats for a memorable win and given fans of the format yet another example of its unpredictability and charm.”

Stumps – England 24-3 (trail by 53)

8th over: England 20-2 (Root 3, Brook) That was the last ball of the over, here comes Harry Brook. England are clinging on here. They are probably done for already but they definitely can’t afford to lose another this evening.

WICKET! Ollie Pope c Agha Salman b Noman Ali 1 (England 20-3)

7th over: England 19-2 (Pope 1, Root 3) Pope survives a probing examination from Sajid Khan. Maiden. Six dots. Deep breaths.

6th over: England 19-2 (Pope 1, Root 3) Joe Root joins Pope out in the middle, he’ll feel like he owes his side some runs here after that misjudgement in the first innings. Crikey! Root nearly goes in exactly the same way again, playing back and asking to be pinned lbw but juuuust managing to jam the bat down in time! Be still my weary ticker. Pope pushes for one into the cover. Root is shuffling back and across again, clipping for two. Can’t take your eyes of it, more importantly, neither can you, Joe.

WICKET! Zak Crawley lbw b Noman Ali 2 (England 15-2)

5th over: England 15-1 (Crawley 2, Pope 0) The beleaguered Ollie Pope joins Crawley in the middle. You could cut the atmosphere with a rusty spoon. Pope survives the four remaining balls. Wicket maiden from Sajid.

WICKET! Ben Duckett lbw b Sajid Khan 12 (England 15-1)

4th over: England 15-0 (Crawley 2, Duckett 12) A probing maiden from Noman Ali. Flight and guile. Feel the tension.

3rd over: England 15-0 (Crawley 2, Duckett 12) Sweep x 2! Sajid Khan back into the attack after one over from Saim Ayub. Ben Duckett drops to his knees and plays back to sweeps to get back to back fours!

2nd over: England 5-0 (Crawley 1, Duckett 3) Crawley stands tall and drives off the back foot for a single through cover. Duckett then gets out the sweep and picks up two runs to deep square leg.

1st over: England 1-0 (Crawley 0, Duckett 0) Saim Ayub is opening the bowling, Shan Masood getting funky! Noman Ali and Sajid Khan absolutely livid no doubt. England’s third innings gets underway with a Zak Crawley leg bye. Noman is going to bowl the second over, spindly shadows stretching over the outfield. This will be a real test for England.

Here come Crawley and Duckett… buckle up.

Pakistan all out 344 (lead by 77 runs after 1st innings)

96th over: Pakistan 337-9 (Sajid Khan 41, Zahid Mahmood 0) Atkinson takes his metaphorical sweater after getting the breakthrough. Zahid Mahmood is the last man in, I dare say Sajid is going to open his shoulders here…

WICKET! Saud Shakeel c sub (Potts) b Atkinson 134 (Pakistan 337-9)

95th over: Pakistan 333-8 (Saud 131, Sajid Khan 39) Pakistan lead by 66 as three runs are pilfered off Jack Leach. Gus Atkinson is coming on to try and bust out a wicket for England.

94th over: Pakistan 330-8 (Saud 131, Sajid Khan 39) Things have calmed down after the pongoing of a few overs ago. Rehan gets through another over with two singles worked off it.

93rd over: Pakistan 328-8 (Saud 130, Sajid Khan 38) Leach continues, Saud and Sajid work the gaps and scamper runs, the lead stretches to 61. This partnership have added 63 runs in ten overs. Ben Stokes has his field spread, not a catcher in sight. It’s not often you see that, England firmly on the defensive, trying to limit the damage.

92nd over: Pakistan 324-8 (Saud 127, Sajid Khan 36) Well bowled Rehan Ahmed, just a single off his latest over. England licking their wounds in Rawalpindi.

Meanwhile…

91st over: Pakistan 323-8 (Saud 127, Sajid Khan 36) What.A.Shot! Sajid plays an in-to-out lofted drive to a Jack Leach length ball and blasts over cover for a flat four. Bugle sounds. Stand and Deliver! Crank up Adam Ant.

Pakistan lead by 56 runs

90th over: Pakistan 317-8 (Saud 126, Sajid Khan 31) Bashir is spared another by Stokes but England’s captain chooses to thrust young Rehan Ahmed’s feet to the fire instead. The leggie does well to get out of the over for just a couple. I’m worn out, Pakistan’s lead stretches past fifty, it’s been high octane stuff post tea.

89th over: Pakistan 315-8 (Saud 125, Sajid Khan 30) Leach does well to keep a lid on things, just two runs off the over as Saud tells Sajid to take a breath and not try to hit every single ball. Twenty more minutes of this and England will be dead and buried.

88th over: Pakistan 313-8 (Saud 124, Sajid Khan 29) Sajid Khan is destroying his fellow off-spinner in Rawalpindi! Six runs clattered over Ben Duckett at mid on… and again SIX MORE. Bashir is wide eyed, the game and series on the line and he’s being well and truly targeted. Four more! Sajid cuts a short ball away to the fence. Fantastic hitting, England are hurting here, NINETEEN runs off the over.

The entire complexion of this match has shifted – Pakistan lead by 47 runs.

87th over: Pakistan 294-8 (Saud 123, Sajid Khan 11) More pain for England as Leach leaks thirteen runs off his over! Saud Shakeel gets in on the act and swipes through midwicket for four, that’s his first boundary in 108 deliveries!

86th over: Pakistan 281-8 (Saud 113, Sajid Khan 9) Pakistan still have to bat last on this surface so runs in front will be crucial. That’ll help! Sajid Khan smears Bashir down the ground for SIX. He can be dangerous with the bat and every run hurts England. More runs are scampered and eleven runs are collected off the over.

85th over: Pakistan 270-8 (Saud 110, Sajid Khan 1) Saud knocks Jack Leach’s first ball post tea into the leg side for a couple to give Pakistan a lead on first innings. A single brings Sajid Khan on strike and he’s content to pat back the rest of the over.

Here come the players post tea. Scores level. Series on the line. What more could you possibly ask for this Autumnal Friday morning?

Jeremy Boyce seems to be clamouring for Harry Brook to turn his arm over:

“It seems to me this is a situation crying out for someone who can send down a few sets of head-scrambling concentration-testing Dermot Reeve-styled Dibbly-Dobblers, harnessing the unpredictability of the bowling to that of the pitch.”

“I don’t like to see Geoffrey traduced.” Writes Peter Metcalfe.

“At Headingley in the 1960s/70s it was quite a sight to see the great man shepherd the scores of autograph hunters into an orderly queue along the boundary before he stood there and started signing. Some signed twice over. And he signed all his books on the sales stand before they were even sold. I also treasure two appreciative letters from him, in blue Quink ink, from when he was outrageously dropped in 1967 for alleged slow scoring.”

Tea: Pakistan 267-8 (Scores level)

WICKET! Noman Ali lbw b Shoaib Bashir 45 (Pakistan 265-8)

83rd over: Pakistan 265-7 (Saud 106, Noman 45) Another big lbw appeal! From Leach this time but there was another big edge on it and umpire Sharfuddoula spotted it. So did England as they choose not to review.

82nd over: Pakistan 262-7 (Saud 105, Noman 44) Bashir back into the attack and goes up for a vociferous appeal to Noman Ali who misses with a sweep. Umpire Gaffaney not interested though and England opt not to review. DRS shows that it was clipping leg but would have stayed with Umpire’s call. Another appeal next ball but a big inside edge saves Noman and they scamper a couple with the ball trickling off fine.

81st over: Pakistan 257-7 (Saud 105, Noman 41) New ball but same old. Leach is worked around for six runs off his returning over. England looking flatter than Michael Flatley driving across a fjord with four flat tyres and a broken stereo. Pakistan only trail by ten runs now.

Will emails in with another amusing Boycott encounter:

“At Trent Bridge in the early 1990s, my friend Ed and I joined a small group of autograph hunters approaching Boycott only to be loudly berated, “Not now, I’m having me loonch!”. Still, I remember this much more vividly than the autographs we did get that day (sorry, RK Illingworth).”