Jamie Smith said the third Test, and with it the series, “will be decided by small margins” on a wicket that has already troubled batters and promises worse to come. “People didn’t quite know what to expect from that surface,” he said after 13 wickets fell on the opening day. “I can only see it getting worse from here.”
While many of his teammates struggled to score, Smith hit six of the day’s seven sixes – “It was more luck than judgment with some of those,” he said – and five fours as England fought back from 98 for five and 118 for six to post a first-innings total of 267. Pakistan ended the day on 73 for three in reply.
“You can have your gameplan before the game but it’s adapting to the surface provided,” Smith said. “The people who batted first and got out came and gave advice about what might work. It’s just being clear how you want to go about things. You’re not thinking about the game situation, you’re thinking about how you can impose your skills.”
One piece of information that was fed back to the dressing room was that the sweep, a shot England were perhaps overreliant on during last week’s second Test, was, on this surface, a difficult and dangerous option. “We had a bit of a laugh about that,” Smith said. “When Ben Duckett is saying it’s tough to sweep, then it probably is near on impossible.”
Sajid Khan, who added six wickets to the nine he took in Multan last week, denied the wicket made life easy for the bowlers. “There were some good balls, but also poor shots from them,” he said. “Wickets don’t get given to you here. You have to vary the pace, use the crease, and that’s how I got my wickets.”
Smith said England were “pretty pleased with the position we’re in” given how difficult batting could become as the game progresses. “The low bounce will make it harder,” he said. I can’t see it bouncing any more – it’s only going to get lower. When you feel the pitch is going to deteriorate as the game goes on, every first-innings run is vital.”
