Costly missed catches and struggles against spin left England in deep trouble on day three of the second Test against Pakistan.
By the eighth day of service after a controversial decision to reuse them for successive matches at an increasingly unreliable Multan pitch, the tourists were 36 for 2 in chase of a dark and distant fourth innings target of 297.
Twenty-four hours after making a fine century, Ben Duckett fell for a two-ball duck and Zak Crawley overbalanced for a three-ball. During the day, England were 88 for 6 against the home spinners and we can expect the trial to continue till the end of the match.
The highest score an England team has found in Asian conditions is 209, a record set at Lahore in 1961, but it might have been a much closer question had they not paid dearly for two handling errors off three balls during the contest. Afternoon session.
Despite giving up a 75-run first-innings lead, England hit the ball hard to give themselves a chance. They had five wickets down and were still less than 200 behind when an optimistic Brydon Carse found Salman Agha outside off two overs later.
missed opportunity
Wicketkeeper Jamie Smith struck first with Salman out for four with the simplest of chances inexplicably popping out of his gloves, before Joe Root struck just minutes later. I failed to cling to low chances.
Carse, gutted on a pitch that overwhelmingly favored spin, crouched and put his hand to his mouth in disbelief. He didn’t know it at the time, but Salman was on the cusp of potentially playing a knock of 63 to win the match.
England’s spinners enjoyed several successes. Shoaib Bashir was in the top three in seven overs before lunch, with Jack Leach adding three for 67. But after watching Sajid Khan take seven wickets in the first innings, they had their reasons. Because of worry.
England’s morale was waning as Salman and Sajid put on 65 off just 73 balls for the ninth wicket, but the umpire had to issue two warnings as the Pakistani batsmen encroached on the protection zone.
betting woes
The day started with England’s batting under pressure. Resuming at 239 for 6, they were all out for 291, losing their last eight wickets for 80 to complete the previous evening’s collapse.
Sajid was the man responsible for filling the foursome for one night with the scalps of Carse, Matthew Potts and Bashir. In his first innings overseas, Potts is most remembered because Sajid nutmegged him with a fierce turner from the rough.
Sajid took figures of 7 for 111 and came back later to make Duckett his eighth over.
The 75-point gap between the teams was already significant, but Bashir did his best to fight back, sending Abdullah Shafique, Shan Massoud and Saime Ayub back to the pavilion before the first break.
Shafique had a controversial leg-side scratch off DRS but Bashir picked the left-hander for two in orthodox fashion as Ollie Pope picked them both up at second slip. Ayub stepped up to the final ball of the session and put a spring in England’s step despite still being in a dangerous position.
Kase causing trouble
Pakistan reaffirmed themselves by adding 91 for two between lunch and tea, but it was a harsh reflection on Carse’s efforts.
There wasn’t a single face over until he came on, but he found a way to cause trouble by running relentlessly around the stumps.
Saud Shakeel went past Root’s head from an advanced slip position to fence him out, justifying the defender’s decision to put on his helmet before Mohammad Rizwan gave him the catch.
Had he also removed Salman, England’s final chase would have been much smaller. But Smith’s squeak behind the stumps and Root’s trickier fumble proved painful.
Leach accounted for Shakeel and Aamer Jamal after tea and Bashir made Noman his third left-hander victim for a boundary, but the hosts rallied back to make it 221 for 8 at 156. Salman and Sajid cautiously breezed through their weary opponents and built a commanding partnership that made an already difficult task seem off limits.
Carse and Potts finished the innings for England, but Seam was not on the menu for Pakistan. Instead, it spun all the way, with Duckett and Crawley falling to the side of the road.
Read more: India recorded their lowest Test score at home as New Zealand tore up their batting order.
