Key events
63rd over: Pakistan 178-4 (Ghulam 79, Rizwan 0) Carse nips the ball into Mohammad Rizwan’s pads to prompt a hearty lbw appeal … it’s an excellent shout but the finger doesn’t go up. England opt against the review, perhaps thinking it’s going over the stumps. Carse has one keep low to close the over, with Rizwan nearly chopping on to the stumps. Pakistan are in a tricky spot.
62nd over: Pakistan 178-4 (Ghulam 79, Rizwan 0) Stokes has set up one of his intimidating fields, with Ghulam staring at three men hovering in the close cover region. Potts produces a maiden; Ghulam is on 79 but has struggled to score for a while now.
61st over: Pakistan 178-4 (Ghulam 79, Rizwan 0) Carse has figures of 1-6 after six overs. He’s been so impressive over the last week.
WICKET! Shakeel c Smith b Carse 4 (Pakistan 178-4)
Carse tests Shakeel’s ticker, striking the left-hander’s gloves with a bouncer. There’s still reverse swing out there, with Carse moving it into Shakeel. And then the one that moves away to nab Shakeel’s outside edge! It’s a wonderful setup, inviting the prod outside off, and Jamie Smith takes a brilliant catch behind the stumps, a very sharp effort from a rapid Carse delivery.
60th over: Pakistan 177-3 (Ghulam 79, Shakeel 4) Ghulam, having hit just one off his previous 21 deliveries, decides to take a risk, making room for a basebally swing through mid-off for four off Potts.
59th over: Pakistan 173-3 (Ghulam 75, Shakeel 4) It’s Carse, not Stokes, who thunders in from the other end, short mid-on and short-mid-off waiting for a loose drive from Saud Shakeel. Another maiden follows to build further pressure.
58th over: Pakistan 173-3 (Ghulam 75, Shakeel 4) Stokes continues with pace, Potts keeping things tight with a maiden to Ghulam.
Time for the third session, with Pakistan operating responsibly thus far. Which brings me to my commute this morning: on a packed Northern Line, the man stood next to me – his armpit threatening to envelop my face – was watching Luca Guadagnino’s intensely NSFW 2024 release, Challengers. It wasn’t something he was continuing from the night before; no, he was watching it right from the start. Thoroughly maverick behaviour from the gilet-wearing finance bro. Now to see if Pakistan – those well-known agents of chaos – replicate such wild behaviour. They’re capable of it.
They’re running through the replays of Potts’ dismissal of Saim: it’s a fine setup, the seamer sending the ball across the left-hander on a good length before pitching fuller to invite the tentative push forward, Stokes positioned perfectly at short mid-off.
Tea
57th over: Pakistan 173-3 (Ghulam 75, Shakeel 4) Stokes continues, bowling the final over of the session. Ghulam has been happy to just survive against the England captain, and a single brings Saud Shakeel on to strike for the last two balls of the over. Stokes finds the outside edge with the final ball, but Shakeel plays with soft hands, the ball staying low to run away past slip for four. Time for some chai.
WICKET! Saim c Stokes b Potts 77 (Pakistan 168-3)
Matt Potts changes things up, going over the wicket to Saim. The seamer’s third delivery of the over jags away from the left-hander before a wider ball is slashed hard … to point. After five dots … a wicket! Saim drives without conviction, finding Stokes at short mid-off. A productive stand comes to a close, Saim walking off with a Test-best if not a century.
56th over: Pakistan 168-3 (Ghulam 74)
55th over: Pakistan 168-2 (Ghulam 74, Saim 77) Stokes is operating at an average speed of 80mph, still feeling his way back from injury. He continues to look more threatening against Ghulam, who plays out four consecutive dots.
54th over: Pakistan 167-2 (Ghulam 74, Saim 76) Potts continues to skip in from around the wicket to Saim, keeping it stump-to-stump for the first three balls, perhaps setting him up for a wider delivery outside off to invite the edge. No, it’s the bouncer that follows with the fourth, but it flies a touch too high. Saim then delivers a gorgeous straight drive, with Harry Brook leaping spectacularly to stop the boundary.
53rd over: Pakistan 164-2 (Ghulam 74, Saim 73) Stokes finds Ghulam’s outside edge again … but the ball drops short of Joe Root at slip. It’s one thing getting the ball to reverse, but there’s very little carry in this surface. Ghulam’s dealing with cramp again, so there’s a break in play. England use it to get a helmet on Root’s head – he comes in closer to the stumps. I don’t think I’ve ever seen slip wear a helmet before.
52nd over: Pakistan 162-2 (Ghulam 74, Saim 72) Potts looks a threat to Saim Ayub, getting the ball to hoop in and challenge the left-hander’s pads and stumps. He then gets one to move away from Saim, who chases it and edges away to third man for a boundary. A more convincing stroke follows from Saim, who flicks off his pads for four, Potts going a touch too straight from around the wicket. An inside-edge closes the over, Saim nearly chopping on to his stumps.
51st over: Pakistan 152-2 (Ghulam 74, Saim 63) Stokes continues and unfurls a gorgeous outswinger against Ghulam, the ball sneaking past the outside edge. Another edge follows next ball, the ball keeping low to run away to the third-man rope. Ghulam is getting a serious test here, with Stokes deciding to challenge the toes; out comes the yorker, dug out by the right-hander.
They’ve got a proper 2013 playlist going in Multan as John Newman’s Love Me Again rings out.
50th over: Pakistan 145-2 (Ghulam 68, Saim 62) Matt Potts is called in, Stokes recognising that it’s time for the quicks to go to work. Potts brings the ball back into the left-handed Saim Ayub, conceding one from the over.
Showbizguru writes: “The theme tune from the 2012 Bond movie Skyfall seems to be a regular choice for break music at the Multan stadium. What England need now is a Thunderball. I’ll get my coat.”
49th over: Pakistan 144-2 (Ghulam 68, Saim 61) Ben Stokes decides to do it himself, taking off Brydon Carse. There’s a touch of reverse swing in the air and Stokes knows how to harness it. He’s loose to begin with, though; Ghulam punches through the covers for a couple. The next ball is far more threatening, with Stokes getting the ball to move away from the right-hander. Ghulam calls over the Pakistan doc, potentially cramping up as he shakes his right hand; time for the TV cameras to intensely focus on a man eating some ice-cream. As you do.
Dots follow before Stokes squares Gulham up with the final ball of the over, moving it away again to find the outside edge, the ball running away to the boundary for four. Nevermind the runs, there’s something to play with here for England.
Taha Hashim
48th over: Pakistan 138-2 (Ghulam 62, Saim 61) Hello, all, lovely to be here. Jack Leach continues after a few words of wisdom/affirmation/sweet nothings from captain Stokes. Kamran Ghulam skips down the pitch for a rather loose hoick across the line, getting a thick edge to collect three. Saim Ayub adventures down the wicket, too, playing a lovely lofted drive over mid-off for four.
47th over: Pakistan 131-2 (Saim 57, Ghulam 59) Stokes has decided it’s time for Brydon Carse, whose name is crying out for the late Tony Greig to be on commentary. His first ball, bowled from round the wicket to Saim, beats the inside edge and is superbly taken on the bounce by Jamie Smith. There’s nothing he can do later in the over when Carse rams one down the leg side for four byes.
There was a hint of reverse swing in that over – a mite, a soupçon – so this could be England’s opportunity. Taha Hashim will track every last millimeter of deviation; he’s ready to take over for the rest of the day’s play. Bye!
46th over: Pakistan 127-2 (Saim 57, Ghulam 59) Ghulam’s fast hands allow him to back cut Leach for two. It’s one thing to come out at 19 for two on debut, quite another when your team are on their knees and you’re replacing their best player. In that context this has been a gem of an innings.
45th over: Pakistan 125-2 (Saim 57, Ghulam 57) Ghulam reverse sweeps Bashir for for, the first sign of impudence from him. Pakistan are inching towards what might be a very handy position. Let’s be honest, we’re all hedging our bets because we have no idea what this pitch will do. It might crumble completely; it might stay like this.
Ben Stokes has a look at the ball, decides it isn’t reverse-ready and throws it back to Jack Leach.
44th over: Pakistan 120-2 (Saim 57, Ghulam 52) Not for the first time today, Leach almost skids an arm ball through Ghulam. He’s quick enough on his feet to get out of trouble but that looks a potential mode of dismissal for England.
Saim carts a slog sweep for two to bring up the hundred partnership. It was a slightly loose shot but safe enough with nobody at deep midwicket.
“Picking up on Kim Thonger’s comments on the Elon Morgan robot,” begins Oliver Haill. “It made me think of Dennis Lillee coming out to the middle with an aluminium bat. (The ComBat, it was called, apparently.) As this was not allowed and he was forced to change back to a traditional willow number, I’m thinking the laws of cricket might allow wooden robots…?”
Heh. There was a funny story about that aluminium bat on the recent Cricket Et Al podcast with Greg Chappell. My short-term memory has gone to pot so I can’t remember the detail, only that it made me chuckle. But the whole podcast is great, including a fascinating discussion of the book Psycho-Cybernetics. That it was easier to remember.
43rd over: Pakistan 115-2 (Saim 54, Ghulam 50) Bashir, bowling round the wicket, gets one to bounce awkwardly at Ghulam. He fends that wide of leg slip and turns the next ball for a single to reach fine half-century, full of poise and pride. He’s the first No4 to make a debut fifty for Pakistan since the man he replaced, Babar Azam, against West Indies eight years ago. And he celebrates by blowing a kiss to the Pakistan balcony.
42nd over: Pakistan 114-2 (Saim 54, Ghulam 49) England submit a polite enquiry for LBW when Saim misses a sweep off Leach. Outside the line. Leach is starting to get some quicker turn and beats Ghulam with a classic delivery to the right-hander: drift in, turn away, lots of oohs and aahs.
“Woke up to a horrible thought this morning,” begins Pete Salmon. “Pakistan keep losing, there are no crowds, they don’t even seem to know where the next Test will be, and must be losing money on the series. We’ve seen players decide not to play Test cricket anymore, but might we be getting to a point where teams make that decision? Most teams now get nothing from Y=Test cricket financially, or in terms of crowds or prestige. Our worry with the big three has always been that teams will be squeezed out, but I can see a scenario where one team, Pakistan or otherwise, simply says they are going to stop playing Tests concentrate on T20… Allay my fears!”
Well, the good news is that AI is going to kill us all by the year 2030 so the future of Test cricket shouldn’t impact us.
41st over: Pakistan 112-2 (Saim 54, Ghulam 48)
40th over: Pakistan 110-2 (Saim 54, Ghulam 46) Thwack! Saim launches Leach over midwicket for an eyecatching boundary, his fourth of the innings. It hasn’t been a perfect innings, none are, but for the most part he has defended and attacked with an authority that belies his inexperience.
39th over: Pakistan 106-2 (Saim 50, Ghulam 46) Kamran Ghulam came into his debut in abysmal form, with no centuries in six innings across formats. Trust me, for him that’s a drought. He looks a good player: organised, assured and fearless, as he shows by slog-sweeping Bashir handsomely for a one-bounce four.
Bashir, whose line to the right-hander has been much more aggressive today, continues to toss the ball up and almost gets one through Ghulam’s attempted drive. Whatever the right and wrongs of the pitch, and we probably have to defer judgement on that until the end of the game, it has produced an engaging contest today.
38th over: Pakistan 100-2 (Saim 50, Ghulam 40) Ghulam throws his entire being into a slog-sweep at Leach, misses and is lucky that the ball turns past off stump. Had it not turned so extravagantly he would have been cleaned up.
Leach, who has bowled on plenty of helpful pitches at Ciderabad, is getting into a nice rhythm. Later in thbe over he also gets through Ghulam with a quicker arm ball. Almost.
37th over: Pakistan 99-2 (Saim 50, Ghulam 39) Just when you think Pakistan are getting on top, something happens to remind you that a batter is probably never truly ‘in’ on this pitch. Those Leach deliveries have briefly spooked Saim, who trusts nothing but defence in that over from Shoaib.
“Irksome partnership needing breaking?” says Ian Copestake. “You know who to call! Ghostb… er, Stokes.”
Doug Walters was apparently one of the great partnership breakers and ‘Who ya gonna call? DOUG WALTERS’ scans nicely. The fact he took his last wicket in 1977, seven years before Ghostbusters was released, might be considered problematic in some cultures though.
36th over: Pakistan 98-2 (Saim 50, Ghulam 38) Leach beats Saim with successive deliveries, the second a beauty that somehow misses both the outside edge and the off stump. Leach starts to celebrate, then appeals, then asks Ben Stokes to review it. The response is the same as when he asks to put mid-off or mid-on back.
35th over: Pakistan 97-2 (Saim 50, Ghulam 37) Saim drives Bashir for two to reach an excellent half-century, the third of his fledgling Test career, from 98 balls with three fours. It’s been a mature innings, a fine response to his lamentable dismissal in the second innings of the first Test.
There are oohs and aahs later in the over when he offers no stroke to a ball that doesn’t miss off stump by all that much. It looked a safe leave to me. Bashir’s last four Test wickets have cost over 100 runs apiece but he’s bowled well today. Nothing to worry about yet.
34th over: Pakistan 95-2 (Saim 48, Ghulam 37) Between overs, Joe Root shines the ball on Jack Leach’s head #baldcommunity. England will be looking for reverse swing soon because this partnership is becoming irksome. Saim cuts Leach firmly for four, despite the best efforts of Potts haring back from point, and a sikngle takes him to within two of a fine half-century.
33rd over: Pakistan 90-2 (Saim 43, Ghulam 37) Ghulam gives Bashir the charge and clumps the ball down the ground for couple, with Potts doing well to save the boundary. It was in the air, not off the middle, but it was safely wide of the diving Bashir.
The shot has the desired effect. Bashir pulls his length back ever so slightly and Ghulam heaves two more through midwicket.
32nd over: Pakistan 85-2 (Saim 42, Ghulam 33) Now then. Leach beats Ghulam with a jaffa that turns sharply and quickly. That went through the top of the surface and was nigh-on unplayable.
31st over: Pakistan 84-2 (Saim 41, Ghulam 33) Shoaib Bashir, who arguably outbowled Leach this morning even though Leach took both wickets, returns to the attack and finds Saim’s edge with a good ball that straightens and bounces. For the second time today it goes wide of the diving Stokes at slip and through the vacant gully region.
Bashir tosses one up outside off stump, a much more aggressive line, and Ghulam drives for four with authority. “Risk and reward,” says Nasser on commentary.
30th over: Pakistan 79-2 (Saim 40, Ghulam 24) The morning session hinted that this is might be the rarest of surfaces, a new-ball pitch for the spinners. Or maybe Saim Ayub and Kamran Ghumal made it look that way by batting so well after Pakistan’s poor start.
Leach’s first over is an accurate maiden to Ghulam. He’s still hit just the one boundary, a perky straight six off Leach early in his innings.
The players are back on the field. Jack Leach is going to replace Brydon Carse, who bowled a solitary over just before lunch.
“There’s been a lot of publicity about Elon Musk’s Optimus humanoid robots since the last Test,” says Kim Thonger, bringing news to me. “As a visionary he’ll very likely already have spotted the success of the IPL and will have told his R&D team to teach a few of the robots how to apply their superhuman skills to the white ball game. Imagine a robot with Shane Warne’s bowling, Ben Stokes batting, and Eoin Morgan’s captaincy skills. Unstoppable. I have a question. Do the laws of cricket permit a robot to be selected and deployed?”
They don’t offer it yet, but Merlin is patiently awaiting the call.
IS NOTHING SACRED
England Women have a huge game later today, an effective quarter-final against West Indies at the T20 World Cup. Here’s what Raf Nicholson has leared from the tournament to date.
Lunch
29th over: Pakistan 79-2 (Saim 40, Ghulam 29) Saim looks a bit skittish as we approach lunch. He tries to pulls Potts, is too early on the shot and bottom-edges the ball short of Jamie Smith behind the stumps.
So ends an intriguing morning session. Jack Leach, brought on inside the first half hour, took two early wickets to reduce Pakistan to 19 for two. But this used Multan pitch, while never entirely trustworthy, started to behave itself as the ball got a bit older and Saim Ayub put together an assured, positive partnership of 6o with the impressive debutant Kamran Ghulam.
So far, so goodish for Pakistan.
28th over: Pakistan 78-2 (Saim 40, Ghulam 28) Brydon Carse also comes back into the attack just before lunch. Ben Stokes is the most accomplished reverse-swing bowler in this team so I’m sure we’ll see him after lunch unless England run through Pakistan like a dose of salts. I don’t think that’s going to happen.
Carse has no slips and is generally attacking the stumps. He tries one bouncer that is ignored by Saim and goes through to Smith almost in slow motion; I wouldn’t bother, Brydon.
Saim looks for a quick single and is loudly sent back by Ghulam, then misses a loose cut stroke at a ball that’s far too close for the shot. He could easily have dragged that back onto the stumps.
27th over: Pakistan 78-2 (Saim 40, Ghulam 28) No reverse swing for Potts, but he threatens the left-handed Saim with low bounce on a couple of occasions. The second was pretty close, a late inside-edge strangling England’s LBW shout.
Potts will always be dangerous on pitches like this because he bowls so straight.
“I’ve just joined the action and am surprised to see England bowling already,” says Jeremy Boyce. “Did I miss some new Stokes mind games? Did he win the toss, elect to bat, declare at 0-0 after one ball, seeing the need to bowl a lot to take the 20 wickets, and backing his batt(er)ers to perform in their only appearance at the crease?”
Indulgent declarations are so Bazball 1.0.
Edit: It looks like Ben Stokes will not wait until after lunch to see if there’s any reverse swing. Matthew Potts is coming back into the attack.
26th over: Pakistan 75-2 (Saim 37, Ghulam 28) It looks like Ben Stokes will wait until after lunch to see if there’s any reverse swing. Leach continues and bowls another grubber that is well defened by Saim. When I say ‘grubber’ I mean it bounced around shin height, not the full Nasser. We need a different word for that, or maybe an abjective such as ‘vile’.
25th over: Pakistan 73-2 (Saim 36, Ghulam 27) Ah, Bashir has switched back to his original end. Saim almost runs himself out by trying to take a single to cover. He’s rightly sent back and has to scramble to make his ground. The umpires go upstairs to check whether his bat bounced up, but he’s okay.
Later in the over Ghulam reaches outside off stump and edges wide of slip for three. Bashir has bowled nicely this morning and probably deserves a wicket. But then Saim and Ghulam have batted nicely and probably don’t deserve to get out, so now what?
24th over: Pakistan 69-2 (Saim 35, Ghulam 24) Root replaces Bashir, who bowled a threatening spell of 8-1-17-0, althoguh technically they were two spells as he changed ends at one point. Saim drives a single to bring up a positive, clear-headed fifty partnership from 85 balls.
“Pity that you have to get up so early for your duty,” writes Krishnamoorthy V. “But the vicarious summer must feel good in this gloomy weather. Pakistan’s strategy, should one call it that, appears like the last desperate lunge of blind man’s bluff when jeering pirates have already slashed the man to a state of profuse bleeding.”
I’d say the dastardly plan is working pretty well so far.
23rd over: Pakistan 67-2 (Saim 34, Ghulam 23) Not even CricViz’s finest algorithm knows what would be a par score is on this pitch, but you suspect Pakistan would be happy with 250, thrilled with 300 and rhapsodic with 400.
Saim Ayub smiles after repelling a grubber from Leach, then plonks his front foot down and hammers a slog-sweep for four. That’s a terrific shot.
“Wasn’t there a to-do last winter that the pitch in Dharamsala was a used one?” asks John W.
Ah yes, I’d forgotten that – it was used for a Ranji Trophy game, although from memory that was three weeks before the Test rather than three days.
22nd over: Pakistan 61-2 (Saim 28, Ghulam 23) Bashir has also changed ends. “Very slow, very slow off the surface,” says Aamir Sohail when Ghulam has time to defend a nice off-break. Bashir decides to change the angle by going round the wicket to the right-handed Ghulam, but his first ball is down the leg side. He can have another go next over.
21st over: Pakistan 59-2 (Saim 28, Ghulam 21) As expected Leach has changed ends. Ghulam rocks back to force him square on the off side for three runs, which takes him into the twenties. Whisper it but batting looks almost comfortable.
20th over: Pakistan 55-2 (Saim 27, Ghulam 18) Root replaces Leach, who might be about to change ends. England will be wary of bowling Root too much, even on this pitch, because his run-scoring drops off considerably when he bowls a lot of overs, particularly in Asia.
Ghulam, who has started with impressive intent on debut, clatters three runs through the covers to bring up the Pakistan fifty. Saim drives two to deep extra cover and keeps the strike with a single off the last ball. He’s also played well, especially as he was under pressure after that wretched dismissal in the first Test.
