Pakistan v England: Deciding Test perfectly poised after opening exchanges

Whether they can get the runs and wickets they need in sufficient order to complete a remarkable comeback from 1-0 down remains to be seen; certainly it would class as one of the more astonishing recoveries in the game’s history given that they lost the first Test despite scoring 556 in their first innings.

That would suck the wind from any side’s sails but, to their credit, Pakistan have rallied manfully - and certainly creatively in terms of their ground preparation - to try to engineer a 2-1 turnaround.

After Sajid Khan and Noman Ali spun them to all 20 wickets last week, this somewhat unlikely spin pairing, in make-up and method, shared nine of the first 10 this time around as England scored 267 after winning what could prove a crucial toss.

The other wicket fell to Zahid Mahmood, the leg-spinner, as all 68.2 overs were bowled by the slow men, a record for the longest first innings in a Test without pace/seam.

At one stage relatively comfortable at 56-0 in a steady first hour, then stuttering badly at 118-6 a little after lunch, England were lifted by a century stand from Jamie Smith and Gus Atkinson before the last four wickets rather fell in a heap, off-spinner Sajid finishing with 6-128 and left-armer Noman 3-88.

By stumps, England were breathing easier - and, one felt, were slightly on top given that Pakistan would have to bat last on a surface on which the ball has already kept low - as the hosts went in at 73-3.

Either way, those who baulk at Pakistan’s exploitation of home advantage would struggle to argue that the last few days of Test cricket in this series have not been compelling. Too much help for the spinners? As the old Woodpecker cider adverts used to say: “What a refreshing change.”

A refreshing change, too, that England won that toss after seven successive failures with the coin, although it was the prelude, following that good opening stand between Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, to some pretty average shots.

Crawley went after one floated up outside the off stump and sliced to point, then Ollie Pope was lbw on the sweep, his travails continuing. When Joe Root was lbw playing back and Harry Brook bowled behind his legs, dismissals that sandwiched a grubber for Duckett after reaching his fifty, England found themselves in their 118-6 pickle when Ben Stokes was caught at slip trying to force through the covers.

Step forward Smith and Atkinson, the Surrey pair sharing 105 for the seventh wicket in 27.3 overs to lift England into competitive territory.

Atkinson, batting at No 8 ahead of Rehan Ahmed, a justified move, is some addition to this Bazball side, and the only seamer on show for the visitors. With bat in hand he has much to offer, his 39 important in the context of the day before he perished to a tame return catch.

Smith grew into his work, playing forward and straight to offset the low bounce, then rattling along to 89 from 119 balls before skying up a sweep. He hit six sixes and five fours although he rode his luck at times, with Pakistan’s fielding - and field positioning - not at its best close to the boundary.

Rehan was bowled on the charge to give Sajid his fifth, then Jack Leach missed another from Sajid and was stumped.

Leach and Shoaib Bashir, the England spin twins, had removed both of the Pakistan openers with 43 on the board, Atkinson then bowling second Test centurion Kamran Ghulam to leave them wobbling at 46-3.

Shan Masood and Saud Shakeel, who played one match together for Yorkshire in 2023 (a one-wicket defeat at Durham in the County Championship), scrapped through to stumps, with this game perhaps already threatening a similarly close and nail-biting climax.

Pakistan’s plight might have been worse had DRS not overturned two speculative appeals for close catches late in the day, with SIS Saikat the umpire at fault.

Saikat’s finger went up so swiftly – and for no apparent reason – that it evoked memories of Shakoor Rana’s performance in 1987, albeit to Pakistan’s advantage as Abdul Qadir et al ran riot.

To say that Saikat “should have gone to Specsavers”, to borrow the well-worn cliche, made the dangerous assumption that he would have been able to see the right store to visit in the first place and would not inadvertently have walked into Costcutter, for example.

So often, DRS is used as a tactical tool; that it did what it was actually introduced for - to eliminate the howler - was another refreshing change.