England 96 for 1 (Crawley 64*, Root 32*) trail Pakistan 556 (Masood 151, Salman 104*, Shafique 102, Shakeel 82, Leach 3-160) by 460 runs
The riposte, as it often does, came from Crawley, back in the side after missing the Sri Lanka series with a broken finger. He slashed his sixth ball, from Shaheen Afridi, to the boundary and did the same to Naseem in the following over, before taking Afridi for a brace of fours to end the seamer’s opening spell. That led to the early introduction of spin – and another statement of intent from Crawley, as Abrar’s first over went for 11.
Crawley brought up England’s 50 in the 11th, hauling Abrar through the leg side, and he continued to go after Pakistan’s legspinner, who claimed 11 wickets as a debutant on the same ground against England two years ago. Two more fours down the ground left Abrar with opening figures of 4-0-31-0, before a ninth boundary, clipped through midwicket off Naseem, took Crawley to a 55-ball half-century.
England chipped away with two wickets in each session, but Shakeel and Salman ensured Pakistan did not squander the firm foundation provided by centuries from Shan Masood and Abdullah Shafique on day one. The innings progressed in fits and starts but Salman’s judicious assault on England’s spinners, in particular, helped maintain the hosts’ momentum.
Salman was scoreless at lunch, but stroked the first ball after the break through the covers for four – bringing up the Pakistan 400 and signalling his own intentions. He came down the track in the same over to hit Leach through long-off, and was clearly in the mood to get the scoreboard clicking after Pakistan had added only 69 runs during the morning.
His battle with Leach provided a compelling spectacle, as England’s most-experienced spinner was taken for four fours and two sixes in a four-over spell. But it almost went awry for Salman, with the first of his sixes coming perilously close to causing his dismissal: Chris Woakes thought he had done a good job as he backpedalled towards long-off, tossing the ball up as he went out of bounds to then return and complete the catch. But after lengthy deliberation and various replay angles, the third umpire, Chris Gaffaney, ruled that Woakes’ foot was in contact with the ground outside the rope as he claimed the ball a second time.
Shakeel had been content to play second fiddle, even during his initial partnership with Naseem. He combined with Salman for another fifty stand but was undone by some sharp turn from Shoaib Bashir – a rare unplayable ball during a tough outing so far for the 20-year-old. Drifting into leg stump from round the wicket, Bashir found grip and then the outside edge, the ball deflecting off Shakeel’s back leg to Root at slip.
Jamal fell cheaply to Carse but, with Afridi for company, that was the cue for Salman to emerge on another counter. Having moved to his fifty from 71 balls, he reverse-swept Bashir and then took him down the ground, before adding another brace of fours off Leach, followed by a single to bring up 500. In between, Pope added another burned review to the pile with an lbw appeal that was shown to have pitched outside leg.
Pakistan were 515 for 8 at tea, with Salman resuming watchfully before hitting Leach over long-on to move into the 90s. He reached his hundred with a swept single, having scored 59 out of a ninth-wicket stand worth 85, at which point Afridi missed a slog at Leach to be bowled.
England were beginning to look a little frazzled, and their problems had begun in the morning against the unlikely batting force of Naseem, who made his highest score in any format of the game – 33 from 81 balls – and held up a persevering attack for more than 90 minutes. His efforts, which included hitting three sixes during a stand of 64 alongside Shakeel, ensured that there would be no quick route back into the game for the tourists.
With a ball only five overs old, England were hoping to get into the lower middle-order but found Naseem in resourceful – and impish – mood. He was not cowed after being hit on the helmet by Atkinson and went after Bashir and then Leach, the third of his sixes an audacious inside-to-out hit over extra cover. The stand passed 50 and Naseem was outscoring his senior partner by the time he finally became Carse’s maiden Test wicket, succumbing to a round-the-wicket barrage via an edge to leg slip.
Alan Gardner is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo. @alanroderick
