England’s Ben Duckett strikes before Pakistan’s Sajid Khan collapses | Pakistan vs England 2024

Sajid Khan is a player who demands attention, a character whose moustache, however noticeable, isn’t half as noticeable as his celebrations. As England’s innings imploded on a dramatic afternoon and an old, tired pitch that had held up for nearly seven days of Test cricket finally began to capitulate, there were a few of them.

He is a man who could hardly be more theatrical if he put on a scarlet bowler hat and started twirling a stick, and here he found a stage. The tourists seemed well on their way to easily equaling Pakistan’s first innings total of 366 until the day drew to a close and the ball began to show signs of age, the spinners found a turn and the course of play took a turn. At stumps, England were six points behind and still 127 points behind.

“We kind of knew what the space was going to do,” Ben Duckett said. “If we had struggled with this yesterday and there had been just one sailor who wasn’t spinning much, things would have been completely different. I think it’s only going to get harder.

“We’re in a position now where things are going to be huge tomorrow morning. We have to try to win the first game and then we will be in a good position in the game. I would be very surprised if it didn’t keep turning. The fourth inning will definitely be a little difficult.”

For a while this didn’t seem to be the case. After 41 overs, England were 210 for two; Four overs later it was 225 for six and their ambitions had sunk as quickly and colorfully as the sun. In the first two games of this series, England had scored 1,034 runs for nine wickets in 191 overs; Suddenly they lost four for 14 in 18 balls.

Joe Root was the first to fall and was also the most unlucky as the ball bounced off an edge and foot into the stumps. Duckett, who had scored 114 off 129, tried to power the same bowler and edged past Salman Agha at slip, and five balls later Sajid got one that turned sharply past Harry Brooks’s bat to middle and leg. Two balls later, Ben Stokes pushed Noman Ali into a block and the ball flew past Abdullah Shafique at short leg, who dived to take a clever catch. From there, Jamie Smith and Brydon Carse survived the last eight overs under great pressure.

None of that seemed likely as Duckett raised his bat a little earlier, although it was a testament to the bowlers’ increasing control that it took him 22 balls and the better part of nine nervy overs to navigate the 90s. Nevertheless, his 100th goal was the eighth fastest ever scored in an England opening game.

Duckett surprisingly started England’s innings with a leave and then, less surprisingly, continued it with a series of orthodox and reverse sweeps. That’s his specialty, of course, and this was her moment. Under his control, England went on a sprint, scoring 69 in the first ten overs, all but one of which featured at least a single boundary.

Zak Crawley’s time at center was shorter and more dramatic, and he needed a big dose of luck to reach 27. He was on 20 and at the non-striker’s end when he pounced on the wicket, which he alone thought was a likely single from Sajid and was nowhere near his crease when the ball was returned to the bowler. But Sajid had allowed his left arm to touch the stumps and loosen the bails as he prepared to collect them, giving himself a bit of a head start and giving himself a chance to show that he could convey desperation almost as well can like joy.

Two overs later, Crawley had to be called back by Duckett to review an LBW decision which was duly overturned, but he only scored three more runs before another review discovered an advantage and ended his innings.

After his dismissal, England’s scoring pace slowed and when Noman Ali threw a first-time throw to Root in the first hour of the final session, it was Pakistan’s first in 171 tries across the two matches. By this point Ollie Pope had already gone and the 26-year-old seemed comfortable until suddenly he wasn’t and Sajid curled a ball past the bat and into the stumps.

From the start, the day had an unusual, unsettling atmosphere in more ways than one, with the action filtered most of the time through a thick, creamy veil of smog that never quite dissipated, even as the game’s situation gradually became clearer.

Pakistan’s last five wickets added 107 to their overnight score, two of which went to the excellent Brydon Carse. He scored two for just 15 runs in his first 13 overs of the innings and ended up becoming England’s most economical bowler, although Aamer Jamal and Salman Agha eclipsed his figures with 16 from his 16th.

He exacted a measure of revenge by pulling out the middle stump with the first ball after lunch to leave Pakistan nine down, and the final wicket fell six overs later when Noman hit a Jack Leach delivery into the deep Mid-wicket pulled where, conveniently enough, Carse was underneath. Now England also needs him to excel with the bat.