Pakistan v England: second Test, day three – live | Pakistan v England 2022

36th over: Pakistan 106-3 (Saud 13, Imam 14) Tidy over from Leach, just a Saud single off it. ‘The Nut’ is flitting back and forth from over and around the wicket in order to keep the batters on their toes.

35th over: Pakistan 105-3 (Saud 12, Imam 14) Will Jacks is into the attack for his first bowl of the day. Seven runs are taken off him, Saud with a textbook back foot punch for four and a couple of neat late dabs to backward point. 100 up for Pakistan. The pitch still looks decent for batting, the result of this game still firmly up in the air for my moolah.

34th over: Pakistan 98-3 (Saud 5, Imam 14) Imam has shown intent since arriving at the crease, he’s featherlight on his feet as he rocks back and flat bats Leach powerfully through the covers for four. My toddler pads into the room clutching, a fluffy penguin and bellows ‘HELLOOOO! Tries to have a tap at my laptop kepypad and then pads off to find some mischief elsewhere. Sunday mornings on the OBO, lovely stuff.

33rd over: Pakistan 94-3 (Saud 5, Imam 10) Root whistles through his over, barely time for an OBO scribe to catch his breath or slurp his coffee. A maiden. Stokes is fielding at a sort of fly leg slip, there for the top edged sweep.

32nd over: Pakistan 94-3 (Saud 5, Imam 10) Leach whirls away, he’s getting decent grip and turn off this surface. Imam looks to get after him and knock him off his line, skipping down and chipping him down the ground for a couple. It was slightly uppish and a bit mistimed. Stokes tinkers with his field, he’s more than happy to see Pakistan play their shots. It’s cat and mouse at the minute.

31st over: Pakistan 92-3 (Saud 5, Imam 8) Root very nearly snares another… Saud Shakeel drops down for a sweep but the ball skips onto him and he top edges high into the Multan sky but Wood is too far back on the fence to be able to make up the ground to grab it. Root licks his lips and skips back to his mark.

30th over: Pakistan 90-3 (Saud 4, Imam 7) Jack Leach is summoned for a twirl and he’s on the money, decent flight and dip, probing away at the front pad. Just a couple nurdled off it from Imam. Joe Root is going to turn his arm over from the other end.

29th over: Pakistan 88-3 (Saud 4, Imam 5) Thanks Dan and hellOBO. What a time to be alive take over the reins. England are prising the Pakistan batting line up open with a masterclass of seam bowling. Each wicket so far in this innings duking it our for prime position in the highlight reels. That Wood wicket hooped in deliciously, a Kenco spiller of a delivery at this end. Imam is the new bat and he’s underway with a meaty outside edge off Wood that skims away wide of the slips for four.

WICKET! Shafique b Wood 45 (Pakistan 83-2)

28th over: Pakistan 83-2 (Shafique 45, Saud 4) That’s a stinker from Leach, the first poor ball England have bowled this session. The drag down is given the business by Shafique who bludgeons it disdainfully towards cow corner with a cross bat thwack. Shafique also picks up a single before Brook puts down a sharp chance at short leg. That came quickly off Saud’s bat. One of those ones that needs to stick. It didn’t this time.

John Starbuck has some sympathy for England’s forgotten man:

“Kevin Wilson is right about the players he mentions, but one he doesn’t is Will Jacks. The poor guy has bowled only four overs in all the match for no reward, and if he doesn’t get the chance to do any more he’s the most droppable player should Ben Foakes come back in the 3rd Test. Wake up, Stokesie!”

27th over: Pakistan 77-2 (Shafique 40, Saud 3) Anderson toils away. He’s got two slips, a gully and a silly mid-off for Saud. Clear plan to get him to chase one away from his off stump. But Anderson is too full so Saud can nudge the ball for a single behind square on the leg side. That brings Shafique on strike and, again, the plan is clear. A short mid-on means he’ll look to target the stumps. Shafiue plays a lovely on drive but a diving Stokes cuts it off.

26th over: Pakistan 76-2 (Shafique 40, Saud 2) Leach is back and immediately the Shafique looks more confident. He moves to 40 with a lofted inside out drive that plugs for two in the covers. Leach won’t mind a few shots.

25th over: Pakistan 74-2 (Shafique 38, Saud 2) Anderson over pitches and Shafique times his checked drive well, but not well enough to reach the rope. He gets three for that. Anderson is looking for the sucker punch and almost gets it from round the wicket as he jags one back, narrowly missing Saud’s off stump as the batter leaves. After watching Babar get bowled shouldering arms I’d be terrified to make the same mistake and would play at everything. Then again, I’m not a Test cricketer.

Kevin Wilson speaks for many English fans here when he says:

“A couple of years ago I’d have been pretty cynical about England’s immediate Test future. We were relying on Root for runs and his captaincy was less than inspired. Anderson still holding the bowling together and surely he couldn’t go on forever? And now? Bairstow back with a bang and Crawley and Pope showing more consistency. Duckett back to provide solidity and assertiveness at the top of the order. Brook looking like he’s been here for years. Robinson immediately appears to be our Glenn McGrath and Leach continues to chip in with the ball. And at the heart of it all is Ben Stokes, the man for whom nothing is seemingly impossible.”

Exciting times if you’re an England fan, that’s for sure.

24th over: Pakistan 71-2 (Shafique 35, Saud 2) Wood continues and he slowly starts to pull his length back. If I were advising him I’d recommend he sticks to that short of a length area. Two of the balls he digs in fail to rise as they ordinarily would on a more bouncy strip. When the bowler is reaching those speeds that can be a real handful. Just a single off an inside edge for Shafique who deserves credit for keeping control amidst the chaos at the other end.

There are cricket stats and there are cricket stats. This is one of the latter:

23rd over: Pakistan 70-2 (Shafique 34, Saud 2) Robinson is round the wicket to the left handed Saud with a slip and three men catchers in the eye line. One is stationed at a short point. Not a silly point, but a dead-square gully of sorts. Not that they’re needed. Saud is watchful and neatly behind the line as he blocks out a maiden that is targeted at his sticks.

Name change. I’ve been alerted that I should be using Saud, and not Shakeel, when referring to Saud Shakeel. So if you’ve noticed a name change, that’s why.

22nd over: Pakistan 70-2 (Shafique 34, Saud 2) Wood replaces Anderson. A quick commendation for Stokes who has rotated his bowlers perfectly, in my opinion.

Wood has a leg slip but is targeting the stumps, as he should given the uneven nature of the surface. One short ball to Shakeel is swivelled with control out to deep square and that’s the only run from the over.

21st over: Pakistan 69-2 (Shafique 34, Shakeel 1) A comparative deluge after the lunch break with Shakeel getting off the mark with a dab through an empty slip cordon and Robinson over stepping for a total of two from the over. There’s a leg slip but Robinson isn’t tempted to go short just yet. He sticks with a full length and Shafique is forward and resolute with a firm defence. He’s almost done a Babar later on by shouldering arms to a nip-backer that comes close to that off stump.

20th over: Pakistan 67-2 (Shafique 34, Shakeel 0) Another maiden from Anderson who is frankly astounding. He just defies logic, doesn’t he. Immaculate lines with fielders catching in front of square. he’s asking questions with every ball. Shafique is answering them with a full face but he can’t get away. After scoring at 4.5 an over before the break, Pakistan have registered three runs for two wickets from five overs since lunch.

19th over: Pakistan 67-2 (Shafique 34, Shakeel 0) Brilliant from Robinson. He has his first wicket and a maiden as well. He must be such a nightmare to face with his height but it’s the seam that works a treat here. He kept probing on that length until he brought it back in. You’ve got to do something special to bowl Babar Azam and that was special. The ball before the wicket was full and invited the drive. Perhaps that made Babar reluctant to play at anything that wasn’t 100% drivable.

WICKET! Babar b Robinson 1 (Pakistan 67-2)

Get a load of this

18th over: Pakistan 67-1 (Shafique 34, Babar 1) Anderson is moving it both ways now. One holds it’s line and tests Babar’s outside edge. Another hoops in – admittedly too much and Pope has to dive to save four runs down the leg side, but still, how does Anderson do that? He’s got a leg slip, a short cover, a short midwicket and a straight-ish short mid-on. He’s looking to hit the stumps. Babar gets off the mark with a tickle backward of square and Shafique blocks out the final ball.

17th over: Pakistan 66-1 (Shafique 34, Babar 0) Two men catching in front of square on the off side for Robinson and Shafique is happy to bunt it with soft hands. A maiden for the lanky bowler who hits a good line back of a length.

Please go find a replay of that if you haven’t seen it yet. Truly one of the great deliveries of our time.

16th over: Pakistan 66-1 (Shafique 34, Babar 0) Rizwan couldn’t believe he’d just been bowled. He stood there for some time, incredulous that a ball angling in towards his leg stump could have taken the top of off. He’d collected two runs earlier in the over but he’ll now wish he settled for just one as he’d have been at the other end watching Shafique try to deal with that unplayable ball. Just marvellous from Anderson.

WICKET! Rizwan b Anderson 30 (Pakistan 66-1)

“Daniel, Rosy-fingered Dawn peeping over the horizon, even after breakfast. At last.”

That’s lovely John Starbuck. Thank you. Yup, some rays peeping in through the window and the cries of my 2 year old to greet the dawn.

And Jimmy’s got the ball in his hands as the players make their way to the middle.

Lunch: Pakistan 64-0 (290 runs behind)