Two disastrous dropped catches cost England dearly as Pakistan eye second-Test victory

Brydon Carse put his hands to his head, stooped over and let out a long sigh. Jamie Smith had just dropped the most straightforward of edges and by the the close it looked to have cost England their hopes of wrapping up the series in Multan.

Twice England dropped Pakistan’s top scorer Salman Agha in three balls starting with Smith’s howler and they paid a high price, their target for winning eventually set at 297, a mountain to climb on a day-nine dirt track.

England ended day three sinking as fast as the sun over the stands, losing both openers within four overs of their run chase, closing on 36 for two. Ben Duckett marked his 30th birthday with a two-ball duck, top edging a wild sweep.

And Zak Crawley continued to show little pedigree starting against spin on Asian pitches, stumped driving at a ball turning away from the bat for three.

If they are not scuffing up the Rawalpindi pitch already then expect it to start very soon as Pakistan stand on the verge of a series-levelling win after discovering a way to trip up an England side that, within a week, has gone from making more than 800 to trying to scrape 200.

It was a desperate, unprecedented move to reuse the same surface and pick seven spin options and one seamer, dropping a phalanx of stars in the process, but it is about to pay off barring some Bazball brilliance from nowhere.

It was always going to be moving day and 16 wickets fell – more than in the first three days of the first Test – as batsman had to scrap for every run.

With their last four wickets adding just 41 in the morning (and losing eight for 80 since Root’s match-turning dismissal on day two), England needed to run through Pakistan but dropping Agha twice in three balls off the outstanding Carse was deflating. Stuart Broad or James Anderson would not have taken it so well.

Carse could not believe it when Smith dropped an edge off Agha fending at a ball that nipped away late. Worse was to come. Two balls later Joe Root dropped a harder chance at first slip, although another he should have taken. Root was standing close due to the low bounce and wearing a helmet, but he got both hands to the ball only for it to slip from his grasp. Carse sank to his knees in disbelief.

If Smith had held on, Salman would have departed for four, Pakistan reduced to 122 for six, a lead at that stage of 177, still ahead in the game, but only just. Instead Salman went on to a feisty 63 off 89 balls, adding a gut punch of a 65-run stand for the ninth wicket – the highest of the innings – with the fiery Sajid Khan.

Smith has done so much right as England’s keeper-batter since his debut in the summer and this has not been an easy pitch to keep on for a player so inexperienced in Asian conditions. Many have kept low, grubbing through on the half volley from the seamers, some pea-rolling off the spinners, but the edge from Salman would be taken ten times out of ten if he had to do it again.

It was desperately cruel on Carse, the best England bowler in this Test. His aggression, stamina and skills have masked his newness. He ran in, hit the deck hard and gave everything to his team. Not once did he go off for a rest in the changing rooms. It is a message to Ollie Robinson; Carse has exhibited the buy-in and spirit Brendon McCullum demands.

His two for 29 should have been better for a committed, wholehearted performance that his fielders failed to back up; no Pakistan batsman looked comfortable facing him.

Shoaib Bashir’s four for 66 restored some of his confidence after a slump since winning the Trent Bridge Test against West Indies in July and Jack Leach was consistently threatening for his three wickets but Salman took the spinners on, sweeping well and knocking them off their stride. England really needed one of them to run through Pakistan and start their third-innings panic but they just bowled too many four balls and handy partnerships, four of them above 34, threaded the innings together.

Bashir was excellent to the left handers, landing the ball on the right line, the bounce and turn doing the rest to take the edges of Shan Masood, Saim Ayub and tailender Noaman Ali.

England kept taking wickets just when it looked as if Pakistan were getting away from them. Ben Stokes started with Carse after lunch and brought him back to bowl at Mohammad Rizwan, whom he had dismissed twice in three innings. He made it three in four when Rizwan edged to Root at slip and at 114 for five, England sensed their chance.

Leach ripped out Saud Shakeel leg before sweeping, Stokes spot-on with the review, and Aamer Jamal was bowled playing back to the arm ball but Salman was chipping away, and changed the complexion of the day.

He brought up his fifty with a six slammed straight down the ground and it felt like a sucker punch. He eventually holed out of Carse off the top edge but the day had run away from England by then.

---

01:48 PM BST

Play resumes at 6am tomorrow

Let’s be honest, it’s going to require a minor miracle for England to get the 261 runs remaining without losing eight wickets in the process. But this is a pitch that rewards those who try to score runs and ties up those who don’t. And, well, this is Ben Stokes’ England team, so they’ll back themselves to do it.

---

01:44 PM BST

Agha on Pakistan’s bid to end a period of hurt

“Winning would be massive. We haven’t won a Test at home in I don’t know how many years.”

---

01:41 PM BST

Collingwood speaks to Sky Sports

England have send Paul Collingwood out to speak to Sky Sports. He points out that, although those drops from Smith and Root look really poor on camera, the cordon are being forced to stand so close that the reaction times are uncomfortable.

“We’ve got to be realistic. It’s going to be difficult. But if you just prod around and don’t put the bowlers under pressure, you’re going to get out.”

---

01:33 PM BST

STUMPS: ENG (36-2) need 261 more runs to win

Bat all day tomorrow and you’d like to think they’d get there. But it’s batting all day tomorrow that will be the problem.

---

01:31 PM BST

OVER 11: ENG 36/2 (Root 12 Pope 21)

Pope controls Sajid through gully for two and gets a bit of constructive criticism from the bowler on his way up and down the pitch.

Pope takes a single and Root reverse sweeps the last ball of the day for four. Fancy that.

---

01:29 PM BST

OVER 10: ENG 29/2 (Root 8 Pope 18)

Fewer sweeps now, and the field has spread a little. For my money, that’s an overly defensive ploy from Pakistan. Why not just keep the pressure turned up to the max here. Let England scramble some runs. Does it really make a huge difference at this stage?

Just small change from the Noman over. Some leg-spin before the close perhaps? Nope, Sajid is readying himself for the last over of the day…

---

01:25 PM BST

OVER 9: ENG 26/2 (Root 8 Pope 15)

Pakistan rattling though the overs here with this all-spin attack. If Noman glides to the crease and then releases the ball in a similar spirit; Sajid rather hustles and twirls to the crease and then fires it in accordingly. And he follows up with a glare or a comment most balls too. Great value.

---

01:23 PM BST

OVER 8: ENG 24/2 (Root 7 Pope 14)

Edged! Root plays so softly that the ball doesn’t carry to slip after Noman finds the edge. Textbook from England’s leading run-scorer. Compared with Root when playing the same forward defensive, Pope looks like a learner driver.

Mission for England now: not to lose another wicket before the close.

---

01:19 PM BST

OVER 7: ENG 23/2 (Root 6 Pope 14)

Really interesting battle of wills here. Pakistan know England are going to try and sweep the majority of their runs. England are determined to do it anyway. Pope gets four with a conventional sweep nailed through square leg.

---

01:16 PM BST

OVER 6: ENG 17/2 (Root 5 Pope 9)

Classical finger spin from Noman, who rather glides to the crease and then lofts the ball out of his hand. He’s dropping the ball onto a length rather than firing it in like Sajid at the other end.

Reminder: England need 297 to win. Looks a looooong way off.

---

01:13 PM BST

OVER 5: ENG 15/2 (Root 3 Pope 9)

Slip, leg slip and a short square leg (not a short leg) as Pakistan set a field designed to capitalise on any botched sweeps. Pope and Root back themselves though and pick up singles off Sajid, the offspinner who now has eight wickets in the match.

---

01:10 PM BST

OVER 4: ENG 12/2 (Root 1 Pope 8)

Root trots out to the middle in the fourth over. Off the mark with a sweep fetched from a long way outside off stump.

---

01:06 PM BST

WICKET! Crawley 3(7) st Rizwan b Noman

Crawley stumped. Totally confounded by the flight. Lovely ball actually: drew Crawley out of the crease but the batsman then realised that the ball was dropping sharply, so stopped in his tracks…and missed the ball.

---

01:05 PM BST

OVER 3: ENG 11/1 (Crawley 3 Pope 8)

Crawley, looking very tall with all the close fielders massed around him. Even he’s sweeping as a first line of defence. Picks up a single doing so.

---

01:02 PM BST

OVER 2: ENG 8/1 (Crawley 1 Pope 7)

Noman, the slow left-armer, coming round and through with the new ball. Pope tries to fiddle a reverse sweep, prods forward to a couple, gets hit on the pad. Lots of chatter around the bat.

Now a quality slapped cover drive from Pope but very well stopped by the diving cover fielder.

Pope picks up a run with a scoop/sweep for two.

---

01:00 PM BST

OVER 1: ENG 6/1 (Crawley 1 Pope 5)

Pope blocked his first, then swept his second for four. His third shot was a reverse sweep for one. Just the five sweep shots played by English batsmen in that first over…

---

12:57 PM BST

WICKET! Duckett 0(2) c Rizwan b Sajid

Duckett out in the first over! With the new ball spinning sharply immediately Duckett aimed a big old sweep and top-edged the ball. Rizwan took a simple catch.

---

12:56 PM BST

Sajid opens up

He’s only just taken his pads off. Jerusalem in the background. Here we go.

---

12:45 PM BST

Pakistan all out for 221; England need 297 to win

There should be more than half an hour of batting tonight. First target: reach stumps without losing a wicket.

---

12:43 PM BST

WICKET! Sajid 22(43) c Smith b Potts

Pakistan are all out. Matt Potts continued with bouncers and Sajid gloved one through to Smith.

Should England chase the 297 runs they need to win, it will be the second highest run chase in Pakistani history.

---

12:41 PM BST

OVER 59: PAK 221/9 (Zahid 0 Sajid 22)

That Agha innings changed the complexion of this Test. From chasing potentially around 200, England will now be chasing in excess of 300, on a pitch moving into its ninth and tenth days.

Zahid Mahmood, the Pakistan No 11, survives his first over.

The lead is 296.

---

12:38 PM BST

WICKET! Agha 63(89) c Stokes b Carse

Finally Agha is out. And it’s Carse who takes his wicket (having had him dropped on 4 and 6…). A mistimed pull caught by Stokes at midwicket.

---

12:35 PM BST

OVER 58: PAK 221/8 (Agha 63 Sajid 22)

Potts, running in gamely, without a wicket in this innings. Sajid gets a bouncer which he actually has to wait for before hooking down into the ground for no run. And again, this time letting the ball limp through to Smith.

This pitch really isn’t much fun for bowling seam on. There is swing though.

---

12:30 PM BST

OVER 57: PAK 219/8 (Agha 62 Sajid 21)

Carse comes back into the attack. Doesn’t look like he’s moving totally freely. Sajid moves to 20 with a slashy kind of cut through gully then keeps out a yorker that looked like it tailed in with some reverse swing.

Now a play-and-miss from Sajid. Actually, the fielders fancy reviewing this; they think they’ve heard something. Ben Stokes opts not to review. Apparently Hawk-Eye is temporarily down (or so said the TV commentators at the beginning of the over) but is Snicko?

Lead now 294.

---

12:23 PM BST

OVER 56: PAK 214/8 (Agha 62 Sajid 16)

Potts is finding some swing here, actually. Must be reverse swing, surely? Difficult to tell from where I’m sitting.

Gosh, and another chance in the over as Sajid plays a swivel pull high into the air. Shoaib Bashir rather pulled out of the catch at deep backward square. Needed to have a go, surely.

Oh no! And next ball Agha slams Potts through cover on the drive for four. It’s drinks. I don’t think Stokes will be collecting Bashir’s orange squash for him.

---

12:20 PM BST

Pakistan review

Matt Potts is into the attack and rapping Sajid on the pads. There’s a long delay before the finger goes up but Sajid wants to review this…and snicko shows an inside edge.

---

12:15 PM BST

OVER 55: PAK 208/8 (Agha 57 Sajid 15)

Terrific fielding from Ben Duckett on the long-on boundary: he took a catch but knew he wouldn’t be able to stop himself running over the boundary with the ball so threw the ball back in play. But it all had to happen so damn quickly that he couldn’t throw it up with enough control to run back in and catch it. Still saved five runs.

Agha now survives an lbw appeal from a ball that scoots along the floor. No real interest shown by fielders or umpire.

---

12:10 PM BST

OVER 54: PAK 206/8 (Agha 56 Sajid 14)

Sajid has just been warned by the umpires for running on the wicket. Suspect the man who took seven first-innings wickets knew exactly what he was doing there, hence the warning I suppose.

Leach concedes a smattering of singles. Lead goes up to 281.

---

12:06 PM BST

OVER 53: PAK 203/8 (Agha 55 Sajid 12)

Still no seamer. Bashir continues. And so half an hour after the game seemed to be tilting in England’s favour, it has tilted back to Pakistan. And sorry to point it out again, but these runs are predominantly coming from the bat of a man who was dropped twice in the same over.

Oh dear, more byes conceded here as Bashir again loses his line. Not really Smith’s fault. The partnership goes to 47 runs, at more than a run-a-ball.

---

12:02 PM BST

OVER 52: PAK 196/8 (Agha 55 Sajid 8)

Leach continuing. How long before Stokes brings back a seamer? Probably Carse, I suppose.

Much discussion on the last ball of the over, in an attempt to keep Agha off strike for the next over. It’s to some avail; Agha skips down the track and lofts Leach for six over long off, bringing up his half century in the process. But it means Sajid will face the next over.

---

11:58 AM BST

OVER 51: PAK 189/8 (Agha 49 Sajid 7)

Agha swings himself off balance with a wild reverse sweep on which he doesn’t connect. Bashir looking a little ragged as he tries to second-guess what Agha might be thinking. the Pakistan No 7 goes to 49 with another reverse sweep. Just three off the over though.

Lead is now 264.

---

11:54 AM BST

OVER 50: PAK 185/8 (Agha 46 Sajid 6)

Gah! More byes conceded by Smith as Leach loses his line down the leg side. That’s four for the innings; still pretty impressive, especially now the pitch is spitting and shooting on a fairly regular basis.

---

11:51 AM BST

OVER 49: PAK 181/8 (Agha 45 Sajid 5)

Bashir, so tall at the crease, continues. There’s significant turn every other ball now, on this day-eight pitch.

Agha picks up two with a hard reverse sweep, gets back on strike.

Every run Agha scores hurts England all the more given that he was the man dropped twice in an over by Smith and Root.

---

11:47 AM BST

OVER 48: PAK 178/8 (Agha 43 Sajid 4)

Jack Leach is back now that there are again two right-handers to bowl to. Game really feels like it’s in the balance; take these last two wickets quickly and England will back themselves; concede another 30 and it’s very much advantage Pakistan.

A reverse sweep from the No 10 but straight to the man on the rope. Agha picks up two twos, running hard, which is no mean feat at this stage. Then he sweeps, hard, for four. Picks up another two with a punch into space off the back foot, then sweeps hard again for four more!

That’s fine batting – 15 off the over. Right after I’d typed out that 30 runs could be all the difference…

---

11:43 AM BST

OVER 47: PAK 163/8 (Agha 29 Sajid 3)

Well, well. Is this Test on after all? Pakistan went from 145 for five to 156 for eight in the space of four overs. Now 163 for eight as Agha comes down the track and slaps Bashir through cover. Looks like he fancies picking up some quick runs while he’s batting with the tail.

---

11:37 AM BST

WICKET! Noman c Stokes b Bashir 1(3)

Bashir comes into the attack and picks up a wicket first ball. Classic offie’s wicket – turning away from the left-hander, catching the edge and flying to first slip.

---

11:35 AM BST

OVER 46: PAK 156/7 (Agha 25 Noman 1)

Thanks, as ever, to the magisterial Rob Bagchi. Josh Burrows here and I’ll take this blog through to the close, by which point will England be batting again? Feels possible after the past half hour.

Stokes, who has recovered his composure since getting angry earlier about the two dropped catches off Carse’s bowling, is continuing. There’s a very good bit of leg-side work from Jamie Smith, saving some leg byes, then a ball that makes him look stupid when it bounces a few yards in front of him and turns square – through his legs for four byes.

---

11:30 AM BST

OVER 45: PAK 150/7 (Agha 24 Noman 0)

Jamal tries to whisk one against the turn off Leache and pops it off the leading edge past Crawley at short cover. It came at catchable height but Crawley couldn’t get there. Harsh to call that a drop and anyway it barely matters as he snags him two balls later.

Here’s Josh Burrows to take you through to the close.

---

11:29 AM BST

Wicket!

Jamal b Leach 1  Done him with the darted arm ball. Gulled him for pace. Beautifully bowled.  FOW 150/7

---

11:27 AM BST

OVER 44: PAK 146/6 (Agha 21 Jamal 0)

It is reversing for Stokes and Jamal plays watchfully steering one down off a thick edge through gully and playing and missing at one that arrows across his legs.

---

11:21 AM BST

OVER 43: PAK 145/6 (Agha 21 Jamal 0)

Suddenlt England’s review game rights itself after the folly of the series against Sri Lanka and the first Test. Wicket maiden for Leach who now has 12-4-36-2. The lead is 221.

---

11:17 AM BST

Wicket!

Shakeel lbw b Leach 31  Chris Gaffaney must have thought he had hit it because it pinned him in front of leg stump and was hitting middle. Three reds. FOW 145/6

---

11:16 AM BST

ENG review

Shakeel lbw b Leach  Looks close unless there was a glove on it. He was down on the sweep. No bat or glove.

---

11:15 AM BST

OVER 42: PAK 145/5 (Shakeel 31 Agha 21)

Euurgh! Stokes just lifted Carse’s shirt and rubbed the ball in the small of his back to moisten it with sweat. Salman, given two lives, pulls Stokes’ back of a length delivery for four through midwicket. Stokes goes a bit fuller and manages to reverse it, snaking it away from Salman’s edge as it dipped outside off. At the end of the iver Brook applies Stokes’ brow and Leach’s pate to the ball and gives it a good shine.

---

11:08 AM BST

OVER 41: PAK 139/5 (Shakeel 31 Agha 15)

Jack Leach replaces Stokes after a two-over pre-tea spell. And Salman sweeps fine for two runs. He tries to sweep the next one too but it leaps the bat and hits him on the shoulder as he crouched low. They jog a leg-bye. Shakeel is caught off his pad then gets his bat down on another that turns in to him to nudge it down to fine leg for a single. Salman ends the over by sweeping a low full toss for a single. Pakistan’s run rate is building a healthy lead at a fair lick.

Stokes is merely changing ends.

---

10:47 AM BST

Tea verdict: Slipping away

---

10:46 AM BST

TEA: PAK 134/5

Pakistan lead by 209 after both Smith and Root dropped Salman Ali Agha off the same Carse over. Frustrations are mounting after Carse’s excellent spell was let down by Smith’s fumble.

---

10:45 AM BST

OVER 40: PAK 134/5 (Shakeel 30 Agha 12)

Decent turn from Bashir again, forcing Salman to scramble a ball off his pads to short leg. They take two singles to extend the lead to 209 and head off for tea.

Carse was magnificent and deserved more. Needs a decent cobbler though.

---

10:42 AM BST

OVER 39: PAK 132/5 (Shakeel 29 Agha 11)

Stokes reels off a maiden without troubling Salman apart from one he slides into the inside edge and then on to pad.

One over before tea. And Bashir wiill bowl it.

---

10:37 AM BST

OVER 38: PAK 132/5 (Shakeel 29 Agha 11)

Stokes goes for one more squeeze of the lemon, asking Carse for one more over. And, after running up the middle of the pitch, Carse is given a second official warning. Once more and he won’t be able to bowl again. They take him for two singles and although he clonks Salman on the gloves, it’s off a no-ball. He’ll have to bowl another. And now the sightscreen sheet has come off. Short delay. Salman Agha gets up on his toes to deflect the seventh ball into the offside for a single.

---

10:33 AM BST

Game gone?

---

10:30 AM BST

OVER 37: PAK 128/5 (Shakeel 28 Agha 9)

Stokes settles the debate about his fitness by bringing himself on. He storms in, hitting a heavy length and Shakeel chops a single off the back foot. Salman taps two through cover, a misfeld doubling the return, and Stokes lets his frustration boil over.

---

10:26 AM BST

OVER 36: PAK 124/5 (Shakeel 27 Agha 6)

Carse, whose battered toes on his left foot were something not to be seen before breakfast on day five of the forts Test, is hobbling now. The constant ramming of them when he plants it has taken  its toll.

And to add insult to injury Smith drops Salman off a regulation edge after Carse kept running in gamely. It was just below knee height, he got both hands to it and grassed it. Two balls later, Root drops him too, another relative dolly, even if it came at him quick.

Stokes, normally sanguine, is livid now.

---

10:21 AM BST

OVER 35: PAK 120/5 (Shakeel 26 Agha 4)

Potts continues for a third over in the spell. I wonder if Stokes is fit enough to bowl? We saw that he had his dodgy hamstring strapped yesterday but there has been no update that I have heard. Salman defends solidly, blocking and leaving until he manages to nurdle a single off the last ball towards square leg.

---

10:16 AM BST

OVER 34: PAK 119/5 (Shakeel 26 Agha 3)

Carse comes round the wicket to the left-handed Shakeel who squeezes the attempted yorker to cover for a single. Agha gets on his toes to tick the bouncer off his ribs round the corner for two and then punches defensiely through cover for a single.

---

10:13 AM BST

OVER 33: PAK 115/5 (Shakeel 25 Agha 0)

Shakeel hops on to the back foot to guide a cut down to third man for a single off Potts who then beats Salman Agha with one that nips through low and beats the inside edge… and off stump.

---

10:05 AM BST

OVER 32: PAK 114/5 (Shakeel 24 Agha 0)

Carse beats Rizwan with one that jags back into his pads, catching the batsman on the crease, but it did too much to sustain the leg-before appeal beyond the hopeful. Carse tries an off-cutter slower ball and Rizwan misses it, mistiming his pull. When the bowler pitches up, Rizwan opens the face to stab two through point. But Carse gets his man. The commentators were talking about Rizwan’s clever counter-offensive but to this observer he looked skittish, desperate to make hay because he knew an imminent ball had his name written on it. Big wicket for England and a smart catch by Root, still standing dangerously close.

---

10:02 AM BST

Wicket!

Rizwan c Root b Carse 23 Nicks to slip, pushing forward. he moved four into him then got one to hold his line and Rizwan, uncomfortable against Carse, poked at it with concrete hands. FOW 114/5

---

09:59 AM BST

OVER 31: PAK 112/4 (Shakeel 24 Rizwan 21)

Potts replaces Root and starts with an outswinger that beats Rizwan. The Pakistan keeper decides that now is the time to counter-attack and advances on Potts to slog a drive over mid-off and then drops to one knee having charged three strides down to fetch a fuller one from outside off and drag it through midwicket. Stokes is happy to see it. Potts responds with the yorker that Rizwan jams out and then the batsman tucks a single off his pads.

---

09:54 AM BST

OVER 30: PAK 103/4 (Shakeel 24 Rizwan 12)

Carse returns. He bowled 22 successive dot balls to Rizwan in the first innings then got him out. And he starts with three more dot balls, angling in to him, until Rizwan gets off strike with a hustled single to mid-off. That’s the only damage off the over. Pakistan lead by 178.

---

09:43 AM BST

OVER 29: PAK 102/4 (Shakeel 24 Rizwan 11)

Leach has had to pop off the field and Root replaces him, arcing it on to leg stump from round the wicket and then turning square. The left-hander’s right leg comes round in a French cricket stance and the ball kisses the edge but lands short of Pope at second slip. Shakeel takes a bolder approach to the next one, walloping a sweep for four then reverses the stroke to rotate the strike. Time for drinks.

---

09:40 AM BST

OVER 28: PAK 96/4 (Shakeel 19 Rizwan 10)

His Lordship would like to see a silly point posted to unnerve the batsman. A position, he says, that has gone out of fashion. Even if he does not take a catch, it can change the way the batsman plays. Bashir perseveres without one, reeling off five dot balls and then Rizwan retreats towards his stumps and slaps a cut for two off middle and off.

---

09:36 AM BST

OVER 27: PAK 94/4 (Shakeel 19 Rizwan 8)

Pakistan dig in, diligently trying to build the foundations of victory with the one decent stand they require. It’s hard yakka but they take three singles off Leach.

---

09:32 AM BST

OVER 26: PAK 91/4 (Shakeel 18 Rizwan 6)

Bashir appeals for a leg-before when he angles on on to middle and turns it into Rizwan’s pads, beating the inside edge from round the wicket but it turned too much. The off-spinner come sback over for the final ball and Rizwan chops it off the stumps through cover for a single.

---

09:28 AM BST

OVER 25: PAK 89/4 (Shakeel 17 Rizwan 5)

Both bats use their feet to Leach, picking him off for three singles. Leach saw Shakeel coming and fired it into his body, forcing him to adjust and hoick it through midwicket.

---

09:26 AM BST

OVER 24: PAK 86/4 (Shakeel 15 Rizwan 4)

Because it is turning so sharply, Bashir has been bowling round the wicket to the right-hander and left-hander alike. Rizwan sweeps for a single, both whisk singles to midwicket and Shakeel dabs one wide of the two slips. Might be worth checking if it’s reversing yet by giving Potts a dart.

Nasser Hussain thinks 250 is chaseable while David Gower thinks 175 would be testing. It all depends on the ingenuity of Duckett and Root I would hazard.

---

09:21 AM BST

OVER 23: PAK 82/4 (Shakeel 13 Rizwan 2)

Four singles off Leach, three of them from sweeps, two orthodox and one inverted, and the fourth from a drive after Rizwan skips down.

---

09:17 AM BST

OVER 22: PAK 78/4 (Shakeel 11 Rizwan 0)

Shakeel slaps a cut for a single off Bashir who ties Rizwan up with five dot balls, the first snaking past the inside edge and into the pad. The ball loops towards Stokes who tries to respond to the cries of ‘Catch it!’ But it lands well short and he didn’t hit it anyway.

---

09:13 AM BST

OVER 21: PAK 77/4 (Shakeel 10 Rizwan 0)

Ghulam swat-sweeps Leach in front of square for four, another diddyman accomplished with the broom. Leach tries to keep it out of his sweeping arc and inadvertently drops short so Ghulam clatters a cut through backward point for four more. Leach responds with the two-card trick, one that turns away followed by the one that skids on straight. Absolutely plum.

---

09:09 AM BST

Wicket!

Ghulam lbw b Leach 26  Three reds. Pins him with the arm ball after the previous ball turned away. Diddled him! FOW 77/4

---

09:08 AM BST

PAK review

Ghulam lbw b Leach  He thinks he got his foot outside the line.

---

09:05 AM BST

OVER 20: PAK 67/3 (Ghulam 18 Shakeel 9)

That’s enough of Carse for now despite finding the edge in the last over. Bashir also finds Shakeel’s edge but the ball dies well in front of Pope at second slip. Ghulam slog sweeps Bashir over midwicket for four. The fielder, halfway back, had no chance. Bashir continues on his more aggressive line into the rough and gets one to rag square across the batsman who tries to tickle it, misses but jogs a couple of leg-byes in any case.

---

09:01 AM BST

OVER 19: PAK 60/3 (Ghulam 14 Shakeel 8)

Leach replaces Bashir and Ghulam tucks into a sweep, carting it for four. The number of sweeps hit in front of square in this match is phenomenal. So used to laps and paddles round the corner, this type of sweep needs a new designation, more descriptive than ‘hard sweep’. How about swat-sweep?

---

08:57 AM BST

OVER 18: PAK 56/3 (Ghulam 10 Shakeel 8)

Root and Pope have helmets on at first and second slip, so close are they even for Carse. Shakeel flashes at a drive and the ball flies at Root. Had he not taken evasive action he would have been in serious bother, the ball taking the role of Mme Guillotine. He blesses his luck as the ball rifles behind him for four. And then he grins, as do Pope and Stokes. Just impossible.

---

08:54 AM BST

OVER 17: PAK 50/3 (Ghulam 10 Shakeel 2)

Shakeel, the left-hander, works the off-break against the turn into the onside for a single, Ghulam cuffs the square-turning off-break for a single and Shakeel brings up the home side’s fifty with a sweep. Short leg and short mid-on are in the game here and Bashir ends the over with a Lyonesque Big Dipper that spits up and catches Ghulam on the glove but the ball falls short of Pope at bat-pad.

---

08:47 AM BST

OVER 16: PAK 47/3 (Ghulam 9 Shakeel 0)

Carse starts at 86mph to Ghulam, back of a length, angling in and the right-hander defends the first three as the pace drops down to 80mph. Stokes dives to his right at cover to cut off an uppish drive that fell about 3m short of him and then Ghulam swivels to pull a waist-high short one for four.

---

08:43 AM BST

Brydon Carse has the ball

And England will resume with their first overs of pace after 15 of spin.

---

08:32 AM BST

Meanwhile in Bengaluru

India are 42 for nine against New Zealand!

---

08:11 AM BST

Lunch verdict

---

08:08 AM BST

LUNCH: PAK 43/3

Pakistan lead by 118 with seven wickets left after Bashir found the right length on this eighth-day pitch to take three wickets. Nick said he thought there’d be 14 wickets today half an hour ago. The match might be over if we go at seven wickets a session in the last two!

---

08:06 AM BST

OVER 15: PAK 43/3 (Ghulam 5)

Amid the rippers, the odd pie, an ineradicable habit in one so young and inexperienced as Bashir. Ayuvb crashes a cut off the drag-down, long hop for four through cover, Sky shows the ball from Leach that ragged at the start of the previous over turned 8.1 degrees. Bashir, though, after that gimme, gives his captain the third wicket he craved, nicking off the left-handed opener, diddling him with flight and taking 5kph off the pace. Bright lad!

---

08:03 AM BST

Wicket!

Ayub c Pope b Bashir 22  Last ball before lunch, bowled slower and fuller, arcing into the pads, turning away from the lefthander who nicks it to second slip/gully. That’s three for 27 for the young off-spinner.  FOW 43/3

---

08:00 AM BST

OVER 14: PAK 37/2 (Ayub 17 Ghulam 4)

Leach starts with an absolute peach that drifts in and turns off middle to beat the edge as Kamran Ghulan squared himself up, playing French cricket to try to counter the turn. The batsman beams as if to say, ‘There’s nowt you can do about them’, that is if he was fortunate enough to come from Cleckheaton. Maiden for Leach, a third in five overs.

Bashr will change ends to bowl the last over before lunch.

---

07:57 AM BST

OVER 13: PAK 37/2 (Ayub 17 Ghulam 4)

Root continues. Ayub drives a single through cover and, after Ghulam hustles a leg-bye, the left-handed Ayub nurdles one into the onside and his right-handed partner eases a single to mid-on.

Leach will return now the right-hander’s on strike.

---

07:54 AM BST

OVER 12: PAK 33/2 (Ayub 15 Ghulam 3)

Stokes is geeing up his men. ‘C’mon, three more overs [before lunch]. Let’s get three!’ Bashir beats Ayub with a ripping off break but the left-hander gets off strike with a swept single. Ghulam, the first-innings debutant centurion, reverse sweeps for three and Ayub takes the strike by clipping a single off his laces.

---

07:52 AM BST

OVER 11: PAK 28/2 (Ayub 13 Ghulam 0)

Excellent from Root again as he tries to diddle Ayub who plays the fizzing ball well and patiently, waiting for a wide one which he chops down to third man for three after playing out or leaving five dot balls.

---

07:50 AM BST

OVER 10: PAK 25/2 (Ayub 10 Ghulam 0)

Excellent return by Bashir and again by Stokes to captain him so well. He isn’t bowling consistently in terms of line but he is getting there and looks very dangerous now on a helpful pitch.

---

07:45 AM BST

Wicket!

Masood c Pope b Bashir 11  Left-hander tries to turn an off-break against the turn into the legside but closes the face too soon and it pops off a leading edge to Pope at second slip/gully. FOW 25/2

---

07:43 AM BST

OVER 9: PAK 22/1 (Ayub 9 Masood 9)

Root is the closest England have to Sajid, nice and busy and driving the ball into the pitch. He rattles though his variations in trajectory, lowering or raising his arm from one delivery to the next. Ayub defends four but taps away the round-arm slinger off middle for a single. Root ends the over with one that rags square but Masood watched it fizz by.

---

07:40 AM BST

OVER 8: PAK 21/1 (Ayub 8 Masood 9)

Masood drives for two and then uses his feet to dump Bashir over mid-on for four. The off-spinner fights back with a beauty that arcs into the left-hander, dips, grips and rips past the edge as the Pakistan captain fences at it off the back foot. So close to the edge!

First change and it’s Joe Root.

---

07:37 AM BST

OVER 7: PAK 15/1 (Ayub 8 Masood 3)

Masood is going to try to reprise his first Test, first innings approach and play positively. He sweeps for a single and charges down to drag Leach through midwicket for another. Ayub deflects a single off a closed face and gloves while sweeping, nudging it for two over the keeper.

---

07:35 AM BST

OVER 6: PAK 10/1 (Ayub 5 Masood 1)

Turn from Bashir did for Shafique and England notch a successful review! Wonders will never cease. That must be curtains for that opening partnership: 47 runs at 4.70 in 10 opening stands together. In comes Shan Masood who is hurried when trying to cut off the stumps but manages to chop his bat down just in time to take a single behind point.

Some debate over the murmurs on the Ultra-Edge graph before the ball reached the batsman but as Michael Atherton points out, it did tick up when the ball was near the bat and the pictures showed it very close to the inside edge.

---

07:28 AM BST

Wicket!

Shafique c Smith b Bashir 4  Ultra-Edge was on a go-slow or work to rule there but shows the tiniest possible spike. No wonder Kumar Dharmasena didn’t hear it. Very smart take by Smith down the legside.  FOW 9/1 

---

07:25 AM BST

ENG review

Shafique c Smith b Bashir  Strangled? Certainly thighpad. Any edge?

---

07:23 AM BST

OVER 5: PAK 9/0 (Shafique 4 Ayub 5)

Shafique has been troubled by Leach but devours a full toss and clips it through midwicket for three. Ayub plays Brigadier Block to close out the over.

---

07:22 AM BST

OVER 4: PAK 6/0 (Shafique 1 Ayub 5)

Bashir also finds the leading edge as Ayub tries to turn an off-break against the turn into the legside. The ball pops in t’other direction but falls well short of the two catchers on the offside. Ayub slaps the shorter one off the back foot for a single through cover and Bashir finally has the chance to bowl at the right-hander. He finds the rough but Shafique covers the turn and spin and deflects it through the legside for a single. Given these two averaged 4.33 as an opening partnership, these two runs in the over constitute a triumph for them…

---

07:18 AM BST

OVER 3: PAK 4/0 (Shafique 0 Ayub 4)

Leah is bowling beautifully, tying Shafique up in defence, making him tentative. He sticks another maiden in the book, only a whisker away from a wicket maiden when the left-armer fizzes one past Shafique’s edge as he groped forward. Stokes shouts ‘Yes, yes, he’s coming at it hard now!’

---

07:14 AM BST

OVER 2: PAK 4/0 (Shafique 0 Ayub 4)

Shoaib Bashir starts round the wicket to Sain Ayub and gets the first ball to tip away out of the rough but pitched too wide to tempt the opener. The left-hander top edges a sweep over the keeper, beaten by the turn again, and comes back for a a streaky two. Bashir has two catching covers as well as a leg slip and slip but ends the over with a drag down and Ayub slaps a cut for two in front of square.

---

07:11 AM BST

OVER 1: PAK 0/0 (Shafique 0 Ayub 0)

Jack Leach takes the new ball and the first one rather squirts out, short and wide but Shafique misses out. He beats the edge with one that drifted nicely in and turned away and finds a leading edge, the ball falling 4ft short of the bowler, and the inside edge in a busy maiden.

Shoaib will share the new ball.

---

07:02 AM BST

Wire brushes at the ready?

---

07:00 AM BST

Lessons for Bashir

---

06:59 AM BST

ENG 291 all out

They trail by 75 with Jack Leach unbeaten on 25. They managed to add just over 50 this morning which doesn’t seem enough because Sajid, who took seven for Nelson, and Noman, three for 101. have their danders up and a pitch that suits them. What a difference a session makes.

---

06:56 AM BST

Wicket!

Bashir c Masood b Sajid 9  Sweeps but it comes off the toe and sails to midwicket.  FOW 291 all out

---

06:56 AM BST

OVER 67: ENG 290/9 (Leach 24 Bashir 9)

Leach heaves two through midwicket off Noman, having to hare back to beat the direct hit but he was home by 2ft when the timbers fell. Next ball he drags a single through midwicket and Bashir, like his partner wielding Taunton’s finest, Millichamp and Hall, defends stoutly.

---

06:52 AM BST

OVER 66: ENG 287/9 (Leach 21 Bashir 9)

Blimey! Bashir sweeps Sajid like a right-handed Duckett and the ball trickles under square-leg’s scrambling dive for four. As Nasser Hussain says, facing Sajid may help Bashir bowl a more aggressive line second time around. Bashir chisels out one that keeps low for a single and Leach prods a single down to long-on to take the partnership to 25 and deficit to 79.

---

06:48 AM BST

OVER 65: ENG 280/9 (Leach 19 Bashir 4)

Noman looks like he’s going to devour Bashir on toast and whistles one past the leaden-footed No11’s edge. But then Bashir manages to squirt a single off the edge low down through gully. Leach, who has been working hard on his batting, collars a slog sweep for four, hitting it so cleanly and hard that the fielder didn’t pick it up and stood stock still.

---

06:44 AM BST

OVER 64: ENG 274/9 (Leach 14 Bashir 3)

On the set a thief to catch a thief principle, Leach leaves the off-spinner Bashir to deal with Sajid after tapping a single off the first ball down the ground. Sajid ties him in knots with big-turning off-breaks as he defends and even tries to scoop, but misses. He survives by hook and by crook then drags the last ball through mid-on for a single.

---

06:42 AM BST

OVER 63: ENG 272/9 (Leach 13 Bashir 2)

Leach takes the deficit down to double figures by nailing Noman for a slog swept four over midwicket then hops back to slap a skidder through point for two. Noman responds with one that lands in the rough under Leach’s nose and rags in, beating the edge by a whisker. Leach charges the next one and drags it off the inside edge through midwicket for a single.

---

06:37 AM BST

OVER 62: ENG 265/9 (Leach 6 Bashir 2)

Leach bottom edges a reverse sweep into the ground that spins back but does not roll into the stumps. Two balls later he connects to cuff a single on the reverse. Bashir drives in the air past the bowler for two to take the deficit down to 101. Every extra run might be worth its weight in… pewter.

---

06:35 AM BST

OVER 61: ENG 262/9 (Leach 5 Bashir 0)

Leach mows a slog sweep off Noman for four but then misses out on a slog sweep but managed to get his foot down in the nick of time before Rizwan smartly removed the bails. The left-hander digs out a flatter, fuller one for a single. But Smith holes out next ball. England in a deep, deep hole.

---

06:32 AM BST

Wicket!

Smith c Ayub b Noman 21  Excellent bowling from Noman, slowing his delivery, tossing it up and luring Smith down the track to launch it down long-off’s throat.  FOW 262/9

---

06:29 AM BST

OVER 60: ENG 256/8 (Smith 20 Leach 0)

Potts sweeps cannily for four but then hedges on to the back foot and pays the price. It was short and kept a little low but it was the dramatic degree of turn that did for him mainly.

Plaudits for the Pakistan selectors for bringing in Sajid. With one caveat… what took them so long?

---

06:25 AM BST

Wicket!

Potts b Sajid 6  Nutmegged by a big, turning off-break as he played back. The ball ragged through his legs and and knocked back middle stump. Potts stands there, his mouth a perfect circle of astonishment.  FOW 256/8

---

06:24 AM BST

OVER 59: ENG 252/7 (Smith 20 Potts 2)

The veteran Noman is bowling well in backing up the strike spinner with good control, varying his pace and keeping the line tight. Smith taps a single into the legside and Potts Harrow drives for another.

---

06:21 AM BST

OVER 58: ENG 250/7 (Smith 19 Potts 1)

‘Brainless batting,’ says David Gower on Carse’s dismissal. He was trying to harness brute force to clear the ropes but he didn’t get hold of it properly. No one has been able to hit these spinners down the ground so far in the match and Carse is no different.

---

06:16 AM BST

Wicket!

Carse c Shakeel b Sajid 4  Carse walks down and pumps a drive straight down long-on’s throat, desperately trying to break the dot-ball strangulation. Sajid has a five-for, the first Pakistan off-break bowler, Michael Atherton tells us, to record one at home since Saqlain Mushtaq.  FOW 248/7

---

06:16 AM BST

OVER 57: ENG 248/6 (Smith 18 Carse 4)

Carse looks more comfortable hitting through the offside with the turn away from him that Noman generates and duly drills a single to mid-off. Smith waits for the short one and slaps it on the cut for another single.

---

06:13 AM BST

OVER 56: ENG 246/6 (Smith 17 Carse 4)

If the roller, despite its malfunctioning, has done its job, this should be the easiest time to bat in this innings, at least for 30 minutes. But the ball continues to turn if not so sharply as yesterday. Carse sweeps but misses the ball with his bat. It crashes into his pad, outside the line, and they jog a leg-bye. Smith pushes forward and inside-edges just short of the bat-pad fielder and they run a single.

Sajid badgers his captain to review when he pins Carse on the sweep again but it always looked like Carse had got his leg outside the line and so it proved.

---

06:12 AM BST

NOT OUT

Impact was outside the line. Pakistan have only one review left now.

---

06:11 AM BST

PAK review

Carse lbw b Sajid  Struck on the left thigh while sweeping. Outside the line?

---

06:07 AM BST

OVER 55: ENG 244/6 (Smith 16 Carse 3)

Noman arcs the ball from round the wicket into Smith who tries to work him through the onside but does not beat the infield and the left-arm spinner thus starts with a maiden, his fifth in 22 overs.

---

06:05 AM BST

OVER 54: ENG 244/6 (Smith 16 Carse 3)

Sajid starts and has a slip, leg slip and short leg. He bowls an attacking line outside off, turning into off and middle, the kind of line Shoaib Bashir has moved away from since midsummer. Smith works a single to mid-on by closing the face. Carse belts a drive back up the pitch. Sajid throws up his hands but ducks his head given how hard it was hit but couldn’t get them near. Chris Gaffaney wisely takes evasive action and England run a single. Smith drills two through cover and flicks the off-break off middle and leg round the corner for a single.

---

06:00 AM BST

Yesterday’s haze has gone and it’s hot and sunny

Out come the umpires, followed by the players. The heavy roller broke down mid pitch this morning and had to be pushed up and down for a good minute.

---

05:22 AM BST

Preview: Gripping yarn

Nobody puts a tiger in a corner. Welcome to live coverage of day three of the second Test from Multan where play will resume with England on 239 for six, 127 behind Pakistan, after an extraordinary final session dominated by the bustling, jaunty figure of Sajid Kahn. The man with the Jack Leach pate and Lionel Mandrake handlebar moustache who bounds in bouncily like a young Ian Botham, all busy buttocks and swirling shoulders, grabbed the match by the slack of its pants and hauled it Pakistan’s way with a spell of three for six off 10 balls, dismissing Joe Root, Ben Duckett and Harry Brook.

When Noman Ali chipped in with the wicket of England captain Ben Stokes, suitably scratchy and rusty in his first red-ball innings since July 28, Pakistan were cock-a-hoop and the joyous ululations from the close fielders resounded around Multan in stark contrast to last week’s forlorn, footsore toilers.

What a difference seven days makes to a pitch (and three days of watering, rolling and baking between days five and six) and however unusual back-to-back Tests on the same strip are we can at least be grateful for it levelling the balance between bat and ball, making it a genuinely competitive contest.

Nonetheless, England consider themselves neither down nor out, a far cry from Ahmedabad in 2021 or when Jadejad in Rajkot, Ashwined in Ranchi and Kuldeeped and Ashwined in Dharamsala last February and March.

Brydon Carse and Matty Potts can both bat, Jamie Smith has given us half a dozen examples of his class and ingenuity and Jack Leach of his doggedness so there is a chance that they can claw their way closer to parity. Even if they don’t, Ben Duckett, who made a chanceless fourth Test century yesterday, is bullish about their prospects with the ball, backing them to wreck the minds of a Pakistan side who have not won at home since 2021, racking up seven defeats and four draws since beating South Africa at Rawalpindi. Unsurprisingly he also backs England to chase anything down but it will be tricky to make much more than 200 should Sajid and Noman (is an island, entire of itself) find their beguiling best again in the fourth innings.

Whatever happens, it makes these dawn calls worthwhile. Their critics mock them for their ‘saving Test cricket’ spiel which seems to me to be noble if gauche, but this England side are never less than gripping.