So they didn’t do it. And in the end they weren’t even all that close. But for a moment, when England lost two wickets in the first over, and the first loud cries of ‘Pakistan, Zindabad’ were breaking out, it felt like they just might.
Honestly, just the faint possibility was all this match, even this series, needed. The prospect of a contest was enough to make it one of those happy match mornings when nobody at the ground could be exactly sure what was in store, or see which way the day’s play was headed.
