Record-breaker: Harry Brook
(Picture: Getty Images)After inflicting four sessions of carnage with the bat, England finally faced some resistance, as Pakistan fought back in the afternoon session here.
The morning had belonged to Harry Brook, whose 153 off 116 contained a record-breaking over in which he scored 27 runs — the most by any English player in history. It was an over that was matched in spirit, if not output, by his team-mates as England were bowled out before lunch, finishing on an almighty 657. Will Jacks, on debut, and Ollie Robinson contributed 30 and 37 apiece, as England’s innings closed with a flourish if not quite a bang.
That being said, any feeling that England would take a calmer approach to the second day here was discarded immediately, as from his very first ball of the day, Ben Stokes charged at Naseem Shah and launched him for a six back over his head to take him to 40 off 16 balls. However, four deliveries later, Stokes was bowled as he looked to give himself room. Shah screamed in Stokes’s direction when the wicket fell, half in celebration, half in shock that an England player had actually missed one.
Liam Livingstone, also on debut, came to the crease and waited only seven balls to hit his first six, a mammoth blow that landed in the top tier. Ahead of the match, Stokes had backed Livingstone to clear the media centre, so on that front it was technically a failure.
Livingstone departed three balls later, attempting to repeat the trick to the legside, and after Brook (below, raising his bat on 150) flew from 118 to 153 in nine balls he, too, would depart in the same manner.
Those wickets brought Jacks and Robinson together for England’s last significant partnership and the pair added another 65. But once Jacks went, caught at midwicket attempting to find the boundary, the innings petered out, as Robinson and James Anderson both fell to the spin of Zahid Mahmood for the addition of just 16.
Mahmood finished with figures of four for 235 from 33 overs, the most runs conceded on debut in history.
Unfortunately, once the fever dream of England’s innings had come to a close, the reality of a lifeless pitch on which taking 20 wickets will prove to be as difficult as finding Voldemort’s seven horcruxes struck England square in the face.
Adept to their own home conditions, Pakistan promptly gave England a microdosed taste of their own medicine, as Imam-ul-Haq and Abdullah Shafique batted with the same authority that their opponents had, just at half the scoring rate.
England did have one opportunity in the afternoon session, when Jack Leach found the outside edge of Imam’s bat with the slightest of feathers, but stand-in wicketkeeper Ollie Pope failed to hold on.
Pakistan brought up their 100 in the 29th over, with both Shafique and Imam reaching their half-centuries in the lead-up to tea. England’s opening bowlers, Anderson and Robinson, bowled nine overs between them, but the visiting side quickly turned to spin in search of a wicket.
Leach bowled well and with great control, only ever really going for runs when Pakistan’s batters risked attempting a boundary.
Jacks, at the other end, his off-spin far better than that of a part-timer but still a craft being honed, struggled for control as he was picked off for singles and boundaries.
England were still a long way ahead of the game, but fighting against a lame pitch and a Pakistan line-up with no interest in letting them win.
