Key events
Nothing to see here… apart from a nosebleed inducing amount of runs:
Preamble
James Wallace
Shouldn’t you be at work in bed?
Hello and welcome to Rawalpindi, by way of a sofa in south London, for the deciding Test match between Pakistan and England. It’s one Test apiece and all to play for as both sides look to secure a series victory that would mean an awful lot.
Shan Masood’s Pakistan side are riding their own brand of chaos but have managed to square the series with a rousing win in the second Test at Multan. The victory put an end to a six Test string of defeats and gave them a glimmer of a way forward, if not a sustainable blueprint for success. They’ve named an unchanged side and ordered up a rotor fan assisted deck that they hope will ultimately crumble the way the of their spinners for the second match in a row.
For Ben Stokes’ England side it is a chance to double down on the series win in Pakistan two years ago and leave the sub-continent (where they aren’t set to return until 2027) with a 6-5 win ratio overall. They have happy memories of Rawalpindi, particularly the first day, last time they visited they racked up 506 for 4 in 75 overs and four of the men playing today – Crawley, Duckett, Pope and Brook notched up centuries before the bowlers set about prising out twenty wickets on a pitch with less life than Mars.
You want subplots? This match has them by the bucketload. We’ll get into all that and more over the coming hours. Play is due to begin at 6am BST and I’ll bring news of the all important toss shortly. If you are tuning in then why not drop us a line in the usual way? This one promises to be a corker.
