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 a thumb injury to opener Ben Duckett when taking the final Pakistan wicket to fall.

There is no official word through yet on the extent of the damage and whether Duckett can still bat in this innings or the remainder of the Test, though Sky Sports’ Nasser Hussain relayed on commentary “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.

But Zak 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.

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.

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.

What should England do if Duckett is injured?

Sky Sports’ Nasser Hussain:

“I wouldn’t open with Ben Stokes, personally, but he could do it [for rest of series], he’s technically as sound as anyone.

“In these conditions, opening is not like it is in England where it’s more of a specialist position. If it was England, I’d probably call up a specialist opener, whether that be Keaton Jennings, Alex Lees or Rory Burns.

“I don’t think they’ll do that. If anything they’ll do what they did tonight and move Pope up and Jordan Cox into the middle order, or Stokes when he’s fit.”

[On England’s hopes in this Test]: “Under the McCullum-Stokes era, England have conceded 500 twice and won both those games – against New Zealand at Trent Bridge and at Rawalpindi in 2022.

“That’s one thing about England’s batting line-up, they score their runs so quickly, they can creep up on you.

“Zak Crawley’s break has probably done him good. He hits through the line so well, he can nail you. Your margin for error on line and length is miniscule.”

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

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