England 657 (Brook 153, Crawley 122, Pope 108, Duckett 107) leads Pakistan 181 for 0 (Imam-ul-Haq 90*, Shafique 89*) by 476 runs.England vs Pakistan.
On the second day of their match in Rawalpindi, Pakistan’s openers Imam-ul-Haq and Abdullah Shafique channelled their energy and shinnied towards England’s enormous first-innings total.
The home team survived more than two sessions without incident after Harry Brook increased his overnight score of 101 to 153 off just 116 balls as England were bowled out for 657 at less than a run a ball just before lunch. To the dismay of PCB chairman Ramiz Raja, the field remained a road for the duration of both days as they staged an opening partnership with Imam 90 not out that was close to 200.England vs Pakistan
In contrast to England’s fireworks of the first four sessions, the pair handled a spin attack consisting of Jack Leach, Will Jacks, and Joe Root with class during the middle session.
Imam hit Leach over the rope at deep midwicket to end England’s lone frontline spinner’s streak of 11 dot balls, and Shafique moved down the field to hit Jacks over long-on to push Pakistan’s score to fifty.
With a magnificent drive to the cover boundary off Jacks—his seventh four of the innings—Shafique reached his half-century. Imam quickly followed suit, pushing a Root delivery towards cover for a single.
As Ben Stokes prepared attacking fields, England’s slow bowling produced 21 straight overs. Ben Foakes was unable to recover from the illness that spread through the touring team on match day, and Root reprised a role he has played numerous times. Liam Livingstone, England’s other debutant and occasional spinner, suffered a jarred knee that kept him off the field for much of the afternoon and evening. Jacks filled the part-timer role that helped secure him a Test debut.
All of this was a lead-up to James Anderson’s return and attempt to get some reverse swing. The scant evidence of the one he sent down before tea didn’t offer much, and there wasn’t even much more than a hint.
Anderson struck Shafique in the ribs with the fifth ball of the evening practise. The ball brushed the glove before soaring down the leg side to Ollie Pope, filling in for regular keeper Foakes. Pope made a great catch by diving to his left, but the on-field umpires deferred to their television counterpart, Marais Erasmus, and replays revealed that the ball had touched the ground just a little bit before it hit Pope’s glove.England vs Pakistan
After Leach gave up 12 runs off the 41st over, Shafique hit a six down the ground, and Imam cleared mid-off for four, Stokes entered the attack in an attempt to make a breakthrough, but the hosts held firm.
By lunchtime, Pakistan was able to remove all six of England’s wickets, but not before England scored another 151 runs after reaching 506 for 4, which is the highest total ever for the first day of a Test match.
In order to get to 41 off 18 deliveries on Friday, Stokes, who had previously pushed England past that mark on Thursday with a brutal six off Mohammad Ali in the waning light, unleashed another back over bowler Naseem Shah’s head off the first ball. Four balls later, Naseem changed the pace and hit the top of the middle stump, resulting in his dismissal.
Haris Rauf, Naseem’s teammate and another fast, was sitting in the locker room with his right quad injured from rolling over the ball while fielding the previous day. Legspinner Zahid Mahmood, who was making his Test debut, endured agony of a different kind as a result of his four wickets, which came at an unbelievable cost of 235 runs in 33 overs.
On the seventh ball of his Test career, Livingstone lofted Zahid for a six down the ground, but he only faced three more before holing out to deep square leg off Naseem.
Zahid was defeated by Brook in a stunning over that produced 27 runs. He reverse-swept a six over extra cover, fine-sweeped the following ball for a four, and reverse-swept once more for a four. He didn’t stop there though, smashing the fourth ball through long on for four and lofting the following for six back down the pitch. On the final ball, Brook attempted to go big once more, but he mishandled and sent a top edge back over his own head. The ball then trickled away for an additional three runs, adding to Zahid’s misery.
Brook reached 150 after Naseem’s next over, which featured two fours in three balls, the second of which split the keeper and first slip for four, despite his lofted sweep attempt.
Following a 30-run cameo from Mohammad Ali, Jacks hit Naseem for a six off Zahid down the middle to push England over the 600-run mark. Robinson’s lbw dismissal off Zahid for 37 was not overturned, and Anderson was the last man out after misplaying Zahid’s googly straight to Imam at deep square leg.
