Ben Stokes has admitted he behaved like “a grumpy old man” as England slid to defeat in the second Test in Multan, bowled out for just 144 on a disintegrating surface to lose by 152 runs in a game where his side were “up against it from the toss”.
The captain’s tantrum came on Thursday, when as Pakistan’s second innings neared its conclusion two straightforward opportunities to dismiss Salman Agha were put down. The batter went on to score more than 50 runs after his let-offs to take the game out of England’s reach.
“In these subcontinent conditions, catches don’t come along that often,” Stokes said. “I actually apologised to the group last night because it’s the first time in my captaincy that I’ve let my emotions about the game and how it was unfolding show with my body language. I own up to that and I’m very annoyed with myself for letting that out. It’s something I don’t want to do or be seen to be doing, so I apologised. I was a tired, grumpy old man but you won’t see that again.”
The game was played on the same pitch used for last week’s opening Test, resulting in what Stokes called “pretty extreme conditions” once the surface started to show its age. Brendon McCullum, England’s head coach, said Jamie Smith had faced “the most extreme wicketkeeping conditions you can come across”.
Stokes said the pitch’s deterioration, which seemed to happen “so quickly, pretty much out of nowhere” on day two, made the toss crucial to the outcome of the game – but that he “always call tails” and had no plans to change tactics for next week’s decider in Rawalpindi.
“If we had won the toss it could have been completely different. It was always going to be massive,” he said. “It was always about batting first because the pitch was going to deteriorate. Me and Shan [Masood, the Pakistan captain] both knew that walking out there at 9.30am on Tuesday. When you come into a Test match and you know you’re up against it from the toss, you’ve got to put all of that out of your head and go out there and play the game. I thought until today, we were always there.”
Pakistan were bowled to their first home win since February 2021 by Noman Ali and Sajid Khan, who became the first pair of spinners since Jim Laker and Tony Lock at Old Trafford in 1956 to take all 20 wickets in a Test. Both were called into the Pakistan squad amid a host of controversial changes for this match. “A lot has happened over the last week, so for everyone to work together and come up with a strategy to take 20 wickets and make it happen, that’s the most satisfying thing,” Masood said. “It’s special for everyone because it’s come after some hard times.”
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Asked if his team’s tactics for this Test had been a risk, Masood said: “England take risks every day and they’ve shown the way. If you want to win Test matches you have to take risks.”
