So, there you have it. Pakistan win the series 2-0.
England lost it on three mornings – seven for 96 on day three of the second Test, yesterday when they missed a few chances to snuff out Pakistan’s second innings early doors and today when they lost four for 11. Credit, though, to Pakistan who continue their exceptional run in the UAE. Hopefully it’s not too long till they play a Test at home because they’ve got one heck of a team to be proud of.
Pakistan in the UAE since 2010 (most recent last): DDDWDWWWWLDLWWWWDLDWW. #PakvEng
— Freddie Wilde (@fwildecricket) November 5, 2015
That’s all from here – enjoy your Thursdays!
The best news so far...
No immediate retirement plans for Misbah. Next series not for a while, so he will take time and think about it #PakvEng
— Hemant (@hemantbuch) November 5, 2015
“There were runs to be had out there,” says Cook. “Then again, when you lose four wickets in the first 20 minutes and the middle order gets blown away, you’re not going to win the game.”
“We’ve played some good cricket out here – I’d say we’ve been resilient for most of it. But when the pressure came on, we didn’t perform. To win out here you need to take your chances and we just weren’t good enough to do it.”
On his spinners: “We knew we had inexperienced spinners, hence why we played four spinners to give me the option to get them in and get them out when I needed to. They probably didn’t settle throughout the series (credit to Pakistan). The seamers were outstanding and clearly Stuart and Jimmy lead that.
“I felt a bit sorry for the seamers because you’re always turning to them. But that’s the game – you win together, you lose together.”
Here, here
Not getting into the politics of it. Sorry, trolls. But from a cricketing perspective, it's a shame #Ind aren't playing this #Pak side.
— Dileep Premachandran (@SpiceBoxofEarth) November 5, 2015
Interesting discussion on Sky – they’ve been excellent in the studio this series.
Thoughts have turned to South Africa and the likelihood that England will revert to one spinner. With that in mind, England have to decide whether they stick with Moeen Ali or give Adil Rashid the responsibility of being the team’s sole spin threat.
Moeen took nine wickets on this tour at 45.44, while Rashid’s eight came at 69.50. As for economy rates, there was only 0.02 between them – Moeen the more expensive at 4.08. Decisions, decisions...
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Gareth Wilson wades in:
“Unfortunately, it looks like one of the positives to come out of this is that we now have two good number 8s….
“In all seriousness, Taylor looked pretty reasonable, Bell is shot, and there’s still Hales to try out for SA, so not all bad.”
There’s nothing in it, really, but England drop to sixth in the ICC Test rankings after this defeat.
Still, more power to Pakistan, who jump to second. Incredible considering what they have been up against.
England drop to sixth in the @ICC Test rankings. More on Sky Sports 2 HD or here: https://t.co/y3W3MCCUTO pic.twitter.com/Rsh96BTpU3
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) November 5, 2015
More glasses half full...
England still top of the European rankings... https://t.co/NJJKOUybTm
— Ali Martin (@Cricket_Ali) November 5, 2015
We’ve had one retirement this Test. Due for another?
Well that is that. Pakistan win the series 2-0 and are now No2 in the world. Chants of 'Misbah, Misbah' ring out here in Sharjah #PAKvENG
— Barny Read (@BarnabyRead) November 5, 2015
Nick Evans is the first to pick the bones out of that. And his glass is half full:
“Different format and all but I see KP’s timing is as immaculate as ever…
“Anyway, we’re lost a Test series in the Emirates, so no change there. But, fair to say there are some positives (and not in a Peter Moores sense)? Batsmen have shown they are capable of playing over there (despite today’s efforts), seamers have adapted very well, and not just Jimmy and Broad, and whilst we’ve been exposed as not having a proper spinner yet, at least in Rashid we have a young guy with some balls (see batting) and the potential to develop into one.”
I agree, Nick. People will be clamouring for wholesale changes. But the truth is, certainly regarding the development of and playing of spin, work is being done behind the scenes. It’ll just take some time before we start seeing the fruits of that on the pitch.
61st over: England 156 all out (Anderson 0)
Suppose I’ll give you what I had before it all ended. Stokes sweeps hard for four and then reverses for two. Then he’s stumped and Pakistan win.
Yasir Shah took the final wicket to finish the series as the leading wicket taker (14 at 23.07). Remember, he didn’t play in the first Test...
WICKET! Stokes st Sarfraz b Shah 6 (England 156 all out) – PAKISTAN WIN THE TEST AND THE SERIES 2-0
Shah turns one down the legside as Stokes advances and is stumped.
Pakistan have won by 127 runs
60th over: England 150-9 (Stokes 6, Anderson 0)
Moving fairly well there, is Stokes, as he works Malik through midwicket for three. Single to Stokes as he sweeps against the ball turning away from him and top edges over slip. Just as three of you email in, imploring Cook to embrace his hidden T20 fetish, he skips down the wicket and gets stumped. Hope you’re happy with yourselves.
That was Cook's 950th ball of the series. Next for England is Joe Root, with 527.
— Lawrence Booth (@the_topspin) November 5, 2015
WICKET! Cook st Sarfraz b Malik 63 (England 150-9)
Brilliant bowling from Malik who darts one in as Cook skips down. The ball turns past his outside edge and Sarfraz completes the stumping.
On Stokes injury, this parish’s own Mike Selvey emails in:
“England management know the nature of his injury better than we do. They would not allow anything that hindered recovery.”
Also, for those asking about England’s ODI squad:
Eoin Morgan (Middlesex) captain
Moeen Ali (Worcestershire)
Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire)
Sam Billings (Kent)
Jos Buttler (Lancashire)
Steven Finn (Middlesex)
Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire)
Adil Rashid (Yorkshire)
Joe Root (Yorkshire)
Jason Roy (Surrey)
James Taylor (Nottinghamshire)
Reece Topley (Essex)
David Willey (Northamptonshire)
Chris Woakes (Warwickshire)
Mark Wood (Durham)
59th over: England 145-8 (Cook 62, Stokes 2)
Cook gets the reverse sweep out and SMASHES IT (paddles) for four! Shah brings his length back for most of the over.
Woooooo we're half way there....woooooo, living on a prayer... #pakveng
— Innocent Bystander (@InnoBystander) November 5, 2015
Nicholas Clark emails in and makes a valid point:
“Views on Stokes batting? In a lost cause having the injured man batting surely risk a longer recovery...”
My thoughts exactly.
58th over: England 141-8 (Cook 58, Stokes 2)
Stokes gets on strike and leaves Wahab outside off stump. We’re awaiting some short stuff after Stokes wore one when he came out to bat in the first innings. He manages to get the pull out, but he had to use his whole body to manoeuvre the ball into the leg side. A quick wince is followed by a push into the leg side. A swing and a miss and that’s the over.
57th over: England 140-8 (Cook 57, Stokes 2)
Broad sweeps into Azhar Ali at short leg. Broad’s still trying to work him around the corner but he can’t quite keep tabs on the spin and bounce. As a result, he ends up almost lapping the ball into the hands of Shoaib Malik at square leg. Think we can blame Neil O’Sullivan, who emailed in to say Broad had got England above the required rate. For shame. Anyway, Ben Stokes is the new man and he defends past slip for two.
WICKET! Broad c Malik b Shah 20 (England 138-8)
Broad gets on one knee and sweeps Shah square but aerially – caught by the man at square leg, who didn’t have to move.
56th over: England 138-7 (Cook 57, Broad 20)
Wahab goes short and Broad pulls high over midwicket. It comes back to earth and dents the outfield, about 5 yards out from the boundary and plugs. He takes two. Broad does well to repel the yorker when it comes and even finds a single to point to retain the strike. Because.
55th over: England 133-7 (Cook 56, Broad 17)
Yasir Shah is so good that even his worst ball of the series almost takes a wicket. Horrible drag down and Cook works it around the corner. He thinks he has four, but the man at fine leg is up and as Cook stutters in the middle of the pitch, the fielder gathers. However, by the time he throws, Cook is in at the nonstriker’s end. Broad gets a single into the leg side, as does Cook before the ball pops up off Broad’s lunging pad and perhaps onto his glove, just short of Azhar Ali at bat pad.
54th over: England 129-7 (Cook 54, Broad 15)
Morning all, Vish here. I’ve got Stuart Broad and Wahab Riaz with me, to get things started after lunch. Oh look, it’s a short ball. But it’s a touch wide and Broad follows it, edging into the gap between slip and gully. Then a better directed short ball which Broad thrashes at and an appeal goes up for caught behind off the glove. “Not out” is the call and Pakistan have no reviews yet. Cook gets himself in a bit of trouble, failing to retract the bat early enough for a leave and ends up playing the ball off the face. Luckily, it’s down low past Younis Khan and away for four.
Last time Pak went to no.2 in the rankings was under Inzi in 2006. Last all of a month, slid down again cuz of Eng tour. Repeat coming soon?
— Hassan Cheema (@mediagag) November 5, 2015
Summing up: Pakistan are going to win. Next. The first half-hour’s hideous collapse – a combination of high-pressure accurate spin bowling and some misjudged batting – has sealed this, though Cook and Rashid’s partnership was quietly impressive.
A couple more emails before the break: First, on the actual cricket, from David Brindle. “This will be controversial. Root hasn’t been ‘turning up’ when it matters. The first Test was the only time, frustrated by the slow over rate. But that was a relatively easy task. Faced with the job of single handedly winning a match, or saving a match, and given two classic opportunities to do so, he was nowhere to be found (this Test), or he did something, but not anywhere near enough (2nd test). His statistics are pretty. But what good is that if you don’t win the matches for your team? I keep thinking of Brian Lara, who did exactly that on so many occasions, with a much weaker team even than this pale and insipid version of England (the magnificent Broad, Anderson and Cook excepted) around him.”
And one more from our esteemed man in Sharjah, Mike Selvey, back at Jack McCabe: “Glad to help Jack. You’ll notice he doesn’t get a name check in the Crispins day speech beyond ‘What’s he that wishes it so.’”
And on that I shall sign off and hand you over to Vithushan, who’ll do the first hour after lunch, and in all likelihood, the last hour of the series. Thanks for keeping me awake.
Lunch: England 120-7 (Cook 50, Broad 10)
53rd over: England 120-7 (Cook 50, Broad 10), target 284
Zulfiqar Babar is brought back into the attack just before lunch and keeps Cook on the back foot, but the England captain plays it late and well. A maiden. England have survived to lunch!
“Goneril and Cordelia would be a feisty new ball partnership on the Women’s XI….” writes Martin Wright, with the final Shakespeare-themed contribution of the session.
52nd over: England 120-7 (Cook 50, Broad 10), target 284
Cook reaches his 50 with a slightly unconvincing inside-edge that squirts out square on the legside. It’s been another astonishing feat of concentration and application from the England captain, albeit almost certainly in vain. Broad promptly celebrates it with a square drive for four, and another emphatic drive off the back foot, well cut out by Yasir Shah on the boundary, brings two more. A backfoot punch brings two more. Ten in three balls, suddenly.
Talking of England’s man of the morning, Jack McCabe, here he is again: “The Guardian OBO emerges as not just a procrastination tool but also a valuable academic resource, who would’ve thought. Currently debating now whether or not to cite ‘Mike Selvey, The Guardian: Over by Over Report (3rd Test, Day 5)‘ just to see the bemused face of my professor as she asks me what on earth I’m going about in my tutorial later this morning.” I feel we need regular updates on your academic progress in the coming weeks and months now Jack – you’re our creature now.
51st over: England 111-7 (Cook 49, Broad 2), target 284
Cook nudges Shoaib square on the legside for a single to move closer to his half-century before Broad gets off the mark with a well timed sweep along the ground for two.
“Jack McCabe could inspire a riff for the rest of the day here,” strums Robin Hazlehurst, “and get an essay topic in return: a Shakespeare Characters XI. Lord Selv has put Westmoreland forward, and I could see him biffing in the middle order with his back to the wall. Puck as a tricky and impish leg spinner perhaps. Romeo with the dreamy Gower-esque cover drives? Hamlet the county medium-paced trundler, or the mecurial number three, his flashes of genius restrained by his constant self doubt? Shylock as a scary fast bowler with all that rage inside him? Got to be others...”
Updated
50th over: England 108-7 (Cook 48, Broad 0), target 284
Cook tucks Rahat away off his pads for a single. The right-hander Rashid is targeted with an extra slip and a short leg and is then castled by a terrific inswinger that shapes back in and the batsman can only push at tentatively. That’s the end of a decent partnership, and innings, in the circumstances.
“Assume Stokes is crocked for SA and England go in with four quicks,” writes Kevin Wilson. “Surely Rashid’s gutsy batting has got him ahead of Ali now as the “spinning” all rounder?” Looking at the rest of England’s middle-order, Moeen’s batting is surely too important for him to be dropped, especially with Bell nearing the end of the road. The search for a specific and consistent opener goes on though.
Wicket! Rashid b Rahat 22, England 108-7
And the partnership is broken, by a terrific inswinger.
49th over: England 107-6 (Cook 47, Rashid 22), target 284
The widest, wildest delivery of the morning, from Shoaib, is arrowed wide of Cook and wicketkeeper and runs to the ropes for four byes. Cook pushes a single to point, and Rashid, judging the length well consistently, gets onto the front foot to drive elegantly through the covers for two.
Elsewhere, Australia have given New Zealand a bit of a day one Brisbane battering, the sort with which England are grimly familiar – 389-2 at the close, with Khawaja and Warner making hundred.
48th over: England 100-6 (Cook 46, Rashid 20), target 284
A change of bowling, and tempo: Rahat Ali comes on for Yasir, to bowl at Rashid, who one might uncharitably quip has been better at playing spin in this series than at bowling it (I like Rashid’s bowling a lot, mind, when he’s on song). Anyway, now the Yorkshireman must face pace, against which he’s watchful from the first three deliveries before trying to drive the fourth, which he cracks to point without fully timing it and there’s no run. Another maiden.
47th over: England 100-6 (Cook 46, Rashid 20), target 284
Shoaib continues at Cook, who’s not been totally comfortable against him, and he mistimes a sweep off his fifth ball but it pops up and lands safely past short leg. A maiden.
46th over: England 100-6 (Cook 46, Rashid 20), target 284
England bring up the hundred as Rashid works Yasir away for two. Never let it be said, meanwhile, that Guardian cricket correspondents aren’t all-rounders in every sense. Mike Selvey writes in to gently upbraid our sleep-deprived student Jack McCabe: “I’m sure Jack McCabe in over 25 knows that Westmoreland (‘Oh that we now had here but one ten thousand of those men in England who do no work today’) wasn’t at Agincourt . Of course he does. Just checking.” This could be all the difference, grade-wise Jack. In essay grades as in cricket, it’s all about the small margins.
45th over: England 98-6 (Cook 46, Rashid 18), target 284
Although it’s almost certainly in a losing cause, this is a decent ‘watch and learn’ tutorial from Cook and Rashid to the fallen English batsmen in the pavilion. But having said that, Cook slices Malik unconvincingly off a leading edge in the air on the offside, but it lands safely and they run one. Another legside nudge from Rashid brings a single.
In the find-the-scapegoat competition, meanwhile, we have an early front-runner:
44th over: England 96-6 (Cook 45, Rashid 17), target 284
Rashid works Yasir away for two and then does well to push out a dipping quicker delivery off his back foot. This is a good over from Yasir, his best for a while, and another quick one almost gets through Rashid’s defences but the batsmen manages to flick it away.
43rd over: England 94-6 (Cook 45, Rashid 15), target 284
Risky. Cook sweeps off Malik but it’s in the air and hazardously close to Zulfiqar at deep square leg but he’s not the most mobile, and doesn’t get there in time. They take a single, as does Rashid who nudges one round the corner off the back foot.
“While it certainly hasn’t helped, I really don’t think this Test was lost by batsmen,” reckons Krishnan Patel. “On a pitch like this, the spinners had no discipline. All of them would make good ‘seconds’ but they need someone like Swanny/Monty next to them to offer control.” Agree, though we need to resist the temptation to pile into what is still a pretty inexperienced spin attack. They need to learn, and improve.
42nd over: England 92-6 (Cook 44, Rashid 14), target 284
Yasir bowls his 12th over in a row, to Cook, who pushes a single to extra cover from its fourth ball. Rashid then manages to push out a quicker googly from Yasir so England’s best two rearguard crease-occupiers of this series remain together, for the time b eing.
41st over: England 91-6 (Cook 43, Rashid 14), target 284
Cook clips Malik wide of mid-on for a single. The spinner, with leg-slip in place, comes round the wicket at Rashid, which takes lbw out of the equation, for which the batsman is grateful when one ball skids on into his pads.
Updated
40th over: England 90-6 (Cook 42, Rashid 14), target 284
I’m really looking forward to seeing this Pakistan side over in England next year – it’s been too long, and their 2010 visit was too horrible to contemplate. But this side has a fine blend of entertaining cricketers. One of them, Yasir, continues to Rashid, who gets two after tucking one away neatly off his pads. I would say something positive about this developing partnership at this point, but fear that would only jinx it. And in any case, the target is too far off.
39th over: England 88-6 (Cook 42, Rashid 12), target 284
We have our first bowling change of the morning, Shoaib Malik replacing Zulfiqar. Cook rocks back onto the back foot again and cracks his first ball past point for a single. Shoaib comes round the wicket at Rashid, who takes a flicked single to deep square leg. And that’s drinks.
A colleague attempts to dredge a hopeful precedent from this sorry wreckage:
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38th over: England 86-6 (Cook 41, Rashid 11), target 284
Cook gets forward to smother any spin and clips Yasir to mid-on for a quick single – getting to 100 will seem like some form of moral triumph in these circumstances. Rashid adds another with a deflected dab down to backward of square leg. Cook then square cuts for two and clips another behind square on the legside. The funny thing is, these spinners are probably getting less obvious turn today than England’s did yesterday. But it’s amazing what a little accuracy can do against frightened batsmen.
37th over: England 81-6 (Cook 37, Rashid 10), target 284
Cook rocks onto the back foot and cracks Zulfiqar through the covers for two. The bounce remains a problem for England and Cook unconvincingly manages to work one away on the legside for a single. Rashid then decides to have a go, meeting the pitch of a ball outside off stump and chipping it forcefully to the long-off boundary for four. A decent piece of attacking batting. For what it’s worth.
36th over: England 74-6 (Cook 34, Rashid 6), target 284
Yasir, round the wicket at Cook, goes for another strident appeal against Cook but the turn and bounce is in the batsman’s favour and it’s nowhere near out. He bunts the next ball, a low full toss, into the air but just beyond a diving short midwicket and another single ensues. It’s a bump ball, replays confirm. Rashid plays out the over reasonably calmly.
35th over: England 73-6 (Cook 33, Rashid 6), “target” 284
Zulfiqar comes round the wicket at Cook, who lofts him over the top with some style for four. That’s coolness under pressure for you. A squirt on the legside brings another single.
And some birthday greetings for an OBO regular, John Starbuck: “I reached 66 not out today. Although I’m pleased to have received the books, CD and jumper plus lots of cards, the one prezzie I’d really like would be an England victory. They’re serving up an old-fashioned batting collapse instead, so at least they’ll finish early today which will leave me plenty of time for the activities we’ve planned. One’s birthday is a time to be determinedly cheerful whatever happens. Isn’t it?”
34th over: England 68-6 (Cook 28, Rashid 6), “target” 284
Another one keeps low, from Yasir to Rashid, but the batsmen is equal to it and bunts it away on the legside, as he then does with a low full toss. Yasir tries an optimistic lbw shout to a ball that’s sliding down leg and, replays confirm, pitched outside it.
“This is Rashid’s turn to make amends for throwing away his wicket at the end of the last test with the draw in sight,” demands Tom Gucht. “How many overs does he need to survive?”
Updated
33rd over: England 68-6 (Cook 28, Rashid 6), “target” 284
Cook advances down the track off Zulfiqar and pushes a single to mid-off. Rashid tries to do likewise but the ball zings off his toes and away to safety. He struggles a bit more with one that turns sharply away from him and raps his back leg (Botham reckons it was worth an lbw shout) before pulling a shorter delivery away on the legside for one.
32nd over: England 66-6 (Cook 27, Rashid 5), “target” 284
Rashid nudges Yasir round the corner for two, and is duly watchful against a couple that do genuinely turn away from him. Another single follows. Cook is then foxed by one that turns swiftly into him and he deflects square behind him in the air but safely. He takes a single but didn’t look comfortable there.
Jack McCabe returns with more details on his Essay Hell. “I would reply with something on the Histories, and cricket normally has a lot of parallels with them (a few key players attempting to create their own legacy, an awareness of ‘what-came-before’, lots of would-be-usurpers to a traditional order and a very shaky grasp of time and form). This, and I’ll take the blame for this myself, is swiftly becoming a Tragedy or a Comedy depending what mood you’re in, so I might have to change my essay.” Yeah, it’s not like you’ve been up for hours already.
31st over: England 62-6 (Cook 26, Rashid 2), target 284
Cook misses a sweep – thankfully for him so does his bat and it balloons off his pads into the hands of short leg. It’s been the variable bounce that has done for England so far this morning, that and fairly depressing failures of judgment. Remarkably though, a second over in a row passes without a wicket.
30th over: England 62-6 (Cook 26, Rashid 2), target 284
Cook, who looks well placed to carry his bat on this morning’s evidence, flicks a single round the corner off Yasir. Then – a right-hander scores a run! – Rashid off the mark by nudging a low full toss through midwicket for two.
29th over: England 59-6 (Cook 25, Rashid 0), target 284
Cook continues to hold fast to his sweep, which brings him another single off Zulfiqar. Patel holds fast to nothing in particular though, deceived by Zulfiqar’s arm ball, which he misses and then zoots onto his pads. There are no appeals left but he’s bang to rights anyway, another big blow after Samit had batted so well in the first innings.
Wicket! Patel lbw b Zulfiqar 0, England 59-6
An utter rout now. An arm ball pins Samit first ball.
Updated
28th over: England 58-5 (Cook 24, Bairstow 0), target 284
England don’t appear to have any answer to this. Cook’s trying his best though, and sweeps Yasir out to deep square leg for a single. Bairstow is the latest right-hander sent into the lions’ den and for whom Yasir has set two very close slips and a short leg. But he doesn’t last long, plum lbw to the last ball of the over. This is all so futile.
Updated
Wicket! Bairstow lbw b Yasir 0, England 58-5
Carnage. Bairstow sweeps and misses, is rapped in front, but reviews anyway. It’s more in hope than expectation – this ball hadn’t spun away that much and it was knocking middle out.
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27th over: England 57-4 (Cook 20, Bairstow 0), target 284
Zulfiqar continues, without a leg slip for Cook this time, so that’s one small triumph for the captain, before both batsman and the keeper Sarfraz are deceived by a ball that keeps horribly low and three byes ensue. Taylor has an assertive silly mid-off for company, but it’s not him he has to worry about, but Younis at first slip who takes a simple catch, after the batsman edges a dipping spinning ball straight to him. The end looks already nigh.
Wicket! Taylor c b Zulfiqar 2, England 57-4
And another! Taylor is foxed by a dipping delivery from Zulfiqar which he can only edge to Younis.
26th over: England 54-3 (Cook 20, Taylor 2), target 284
Yasir gets his leg-slip in for Cook, who sweeps and misses across the line at one outside off-stump before meeting a fuller delivery with an agreeable cover drive for three.
Updated
25th over: England 51-3 (Cook 20, Taylor 2), target 284
Another big stadium-rock appeal from Zulfiqar as Cook sweeps and misses and is struck on the pad, but it’s outside the line and the appeal is turned down. Cook gets hold of his next attempted sweep and sends it out to deep square leg for a single. Taylor then gets off the mark with two from a similar shot.
“I’ve been sat in my university library for about 12 continuous hours now, writing an essay on Shakespeare’s Histories for my final year of university,” writes Jack McCabe, before jinxing EVERYTHING. “Your OBO has been my light at the end of the sleep-deprived tunnel, so thank you, but in regard to the Test I cant help feel like something big is going to happen - Root suddenly casting off the rebelliousness to become the prince we all want him to be, Cook cementing his legacy with a heroic but ultimately doomed stand, a couple of middle-order batsmen actually being able to get runs. Or maybe, you know, the anti-climax a few early wickets and then a slow, spin-induced slump towards a series defeat.” And I thought my recent sleep patterns were weird. Anyway, what’s the basic premise of the essay Jack, and what, if anything, can it tell us about the cricket?
24th over: England 48-3 (Cook 19, Taylor 0), target 284
The always watchable Yasir Shah opens from the other end. Root picks the length well from the first two deliveries but is undone next ball when he rocks onto his back foot and is powerless to prevent one that keeps low from scooting onto his pads. Cook advises against a review, and so it begins.
Wicket! Root lbw b Yasir 6, England 48-3
Here we go again though. Root goes onto his back foot and is pinned in front, deceived by the low bounce by the looks.
23rd over: England 48-2 (Cook 19, Root 6), target 284
Zulfiqar starts us off, and is accurate straight away, but Cook bottom-edge sweeps down to fine leg for two to get England off the mark for the day. Pakistan have two close fielders in on the legside in anticipation of just such a shot, but Zulfiqar’s variations force him onto the back foot a couple of times.
Out they come.
Bumble’s pitch report talks of it being a “day two” surface, with not as many bowler’s footmarks and rough as might be expected. But that didn’t make them look any more comfortable last night.
Meanwhile, India have lost a couple of wickets in Mohali and are now 69-3
First email of the day: Michael Meagher has it, and it’s stat-gasmic: “So Jimmy Anderson will definitely get above Kapil Dev here but do you think that’s it? Will he even make 500? As to Alastair Cook, He’ll certainly be the first Englishman to 10000. How high do you think he can go? Sneaking into the top ten with 11000? Nip above Brian Lara at 12000?” You’d certainly fancy Cook to have a lot more still in the career-tank, and Anderson remains a marvel, though to peer through a half-empty glass as is my wont, all this also demonstrates a certain level of dependence on both. Who will be the sturdy rock of an opener or the new-ball magician when they’ve gone?
Scores on the doors elsewhere: Australia may have been the weaker of the two touring sides to visit England in the UK Summer, in those conditions, but they’re enjoying home comforts against New Zealand today, easing to 265-1 at The Gabba with David Warner having clumped a hundred. Follow it all here. In Mohali meanwhile, India are 63-1 against South Africa in the morning session, recovering well through Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara after the loss of Shikhar Dhawan for a duck.
Morning everyone
Yesterday, we - or rather me - idled away some of the OBO hours by riffing on the aburdities of these “What successful people do before breakfast” lists. Well, one of the things a successful English cricket team need to do before most of England has had its breakfast is set themselves fair on a course for an improbable victory here.
Ain’t gonna happen is it? England need 238 more runs to win but have already lost two wickets, and looked becalmed at best, beffudled at worst, against Pakistan’s spinners in yesterday’s evening session. It could easily be all over before most people in Blighty have even got dressed. England have, after all, managed to chase down a fourth-innings target this big on only five previous occasions.
Furthermore, England haven’t won an away Test against Pakistan at all since the famous win in the Karachi gloaming in December 2000. In the subsequent 15 years, England have won away Tests against every other Test opponent, but against Pakistan? Zilch. Nada. To say they’re relying massively on the current pair out there – their two best batsmen, Alastair Cook and Joe Root – is to both state the bleedin’ obvious and to pile the pressure on them. Don’t panic guys, all England fans are counting on ya.
It’s come to something when one of the tourists’ chinks of hope is that Pakistan have used up too many reviews, though there is no massive disgrace in a team still developing to lose to what is it a very good “home” side.
Anyway, play starts 10am local time, 6am GMT
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Tom will be here shortly.
