Lunch England 110 for 5 (Stokes 6*, Smith 5*) vs Pakistan
England find themselves on the ropes at lunch on day one of the third Test against Pakistan at 110 for 5, albeit on a pitch so unpredictable it is not unreasonable to think they might yet achieve a par first-innings score.
After an understandably watchful start from the openers, normal service resumed as Zak Crawley – playing in his 50th Test – nailed a sweep at the end of the 12th over to bring up the 50 partnership. But he fell 10 minutes short of seeing out the first hour after skewing a booming drive to gully.
It was the third time in three innings Crawley had succumbed to Noman’s left-arm spin. That theme of familiar foe would continue as Ollie Pope was trapped LBW attempting to sweep, making it three from three to Sajid. Having arrived at the crease averaging just 17, a frenetic 3 from 14 deliveries has only heaped further pressure on the vice-captain.
While he reviewed, hoping the ball was passing leg stump – it turned out to be clattering into middle and leg – Root was under no illusions when he was pinned in front by the offspinner. A turning delivery kept low, tangling up England’s leading Test runscorer, who walked off as the umpire’s finger was raised.
Root was understandably irked by the manner of his demise, but he was on the last step of the podium when it came to being on the wrong end of misbehaving deliveries. Duckett’s innings was ended with one on the boot from Noman which left him utterly perplexed.
Duckett had stung Noman’s right hand with a full-blooded slap down the ground earlier in the same over – loosely a catching chance, but one that only cost a single run. Taking that risk was ultimately vindicated by the grubber he received, but this 16th fifty-plus score was a measure of Duckett’s clarity and judgement. With sweeping fraught with danger, primarily due to a lack of bounce but also the absence of pace to work with off the pitch, he struck exactly half of his runs down the ground in the V, including a crisp charge and chip down the ground off Sajid for the first six of the match, which took him to 46.
Harry Brook should have taken cues from Duckett and kept the sweep locked away early in his innings. Though he did stray too far across, exposing leg stump which was duly hit by another Sajid delivery that spun plenty, he might have worn it on the boot had he stayed upright.
Nevertheless, playing straight is the best route to passable first-innings score. Stokes and Smith seemed to heed the lessons from what came before them – the former driving to take England past 100 at the start of the 28th over, before the latter got off the mark with a back foot punch through cover point.
