After flourishing on a tired, cracked pitch in the second Test, Pakistan are employing every method at their disposal to get the surface for Thursday’s deciding encounter in Rawalpindi in a similar state – with the aid of a pair of giant windbreaks, two outsized fans and six patio heaters.
The fans were used before the second Test to accelerate the deterioration of the pitch in Multan, with the intention of creating a surface that would offer Pakistan’s spinners maximum turn and grip. The approach proved so successful that two of them, Noman Ali and Sajid Khan, took all 20 English wickets as the home side won by 152 runs to level the series, revelling in conditions that Ben Stokes, the England captain, called “pretty extreme”.
