MULTAN – Sajid Khan’s four wickets, including three late in the day, helped Pakistan finish the day two of the second Multan Test on a strong note as England reached 239-6, trailing by 127 runs, on Wednesday at the Multan Cricket Stadium.
In reply to Pakistan’s first innings total of 366 all out, England’s charge with the bat was led by Ben Duckett, who struck his fourth Test hundred (114, 129b, 16x4s), before England lost four quick wickets for just 14 runs in the final hour of the last session.
After Zak Crawley (27, 36b, 3x4s) and Duckett put on a 73-run opening stand, Noman Ali drew the first blood removing the former caught behind in the 13th over.
Ollie Pope, who departed for 29 off 37 balls with the help of four fours in the 24th over, was Sajid’s first prey as a sharp turning delivery castled his stumps bringing an end to the 52-run second-wicket partnership.
Joe Root (34, 54b, 2x4s) and Duckett stitched a fluent 86-run third-wicket stand off 108 balls as England marched on while the latter also brought up his century off 120 balls. Pakistan struck back with four wickets within 18 balls to leave 225-6 as Sajid and Noman landed regular blows.
Sajid, who was brought on for his third spell at the end of 39th over of innings, bowled Root, who dragged the ball onto his stumps. An over later, in the 44th over of the innings, Duckett handed the ball to Salman Ali Agha at first slip off Sajid, while on the last ball of the same over, Harry Brook (9, 9b, 2x4s) was stunned as a turning ball crashed into his stumps.
Ben Stokes’ five-ball stay on the crease was cut short by Noman as Abdullah Shafique grabbed the catch at short leg. Jamie Smith (12 not out, 33b, 2x4s) and Brydon Carse (2 not out, 19b) carefully saw off the remaining 52 balls in the day as their team finished with 239-6 in 53 overs.
Earlier, Pakistan added 107 runs for five wickets to their overnight score of 259-5, off 33.3 overs as Mohammad Rizwan (41, 97b, 5x4s) departed in the third over of the morning. Valuable contributions from Aamir Jamal (37, 69b, 4x4s), Noman Ali (32, 61b, 5x4s) and Salman Ali Agha (31, 53b, 5x4s) as Pakistan went past the 350-run mark.
Jamal also put on 38 runs for seventh-wicket with Salman and 49 runs for the ninth wicket with Noman to frustrate England’s bowlers before they wrapped up Pakistan’s first innings in 123.3 overs.
Jack Leach was the pick of the bowlers as he bagged four wickets while Brydon Carse picked up three wickets. Matthew Potts and Shoaib Bashir had two and one wicket to their names respectively.
