RAWALPINDI: Jamie Smith smashed a counter-attacking 89 before England’s bowlers made early inroads into the Pakistan lineup to drag the touring side back into contention in the series-deciding third Test on Thursday, with home spinner Sajid Khan grabbing six wickets.

England captain Ben Stokes’s decision to bat first appeared to have backfired as his team lost the top half of their batting order in the morning session of the opening day.

They were reeling at 118-6 when Smith combined in a 105-run stand with Gus Atkinson (39) to revive their fortunes and help England to a competitive 267 all out.

Pakistan suffered a top-order meltdown of their own and finished the day on 73-3, still 194 behind and the match in the balance.

Home captain Shan Masood and Saud Shakeel, both on 16, will resume on Friday hoping to regain some of the ground they conceded after a brilliant start to the match.

The hosts were indebted to their frontline spinners Sajid (6-128) and Noman Ali (3-88) who wrecked England’s top order after openers Ben Duckett (52) and Zak Crawley had shared a 56-run opening stand.

On a pitch fanned, heated and raked by the ground staff at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Atkinson, one of two changes England made to the side which lost the second Test by 152 runs, claimed the only wicket on the day to fall to a pace bowler.

“The pitch helped us for the first 25 overs, but when the ball got softer it was difficult to spin the ball,” said Sajid, who took nine wickets in the second Test victory in Multan. “I varied my pace and used the crease, which helped me to take wickets.

“Smith played a brilliant knock otherwise we could have got them out for under 200. We need a good first-innings lead to win this Test,” admitted Sajid.

Pakistan attacked with spin from both ends via Sajid and Noman, who shared all 20 England wickets in their series-levelling victory in Multan and bowled a combined 42 consecutive overs together.

It was only the fourth time in Test cricket history the new ball on the first morning had been taken by two spinners and the first time in Pakistan.

Pakistan did not use a third bowler in the morning session and Aamer Jamal, their lone seamer, did not bowl in the England innings in a fair indication of how spin-friendly the wicket is.

This was only the second time in Test history that a team didn’t bowl a pacer in the first innings of a Test match, according to ESPN. The first time was in 1882 by Australia against England in Sydney.

“On a wicket like that you fear that it’s going to deteriorate as the game goes on, so every first innings run is vital,” Smith said. “That partnership [with Atkinson] took a lot pressure off me ... we complement each other quite nicely [and] he allowed me to sort of knock the ball around at times when he’s playing some shots.”

After England won the toss, Duckett and Crawley raised a half-century stand inside the first dozen overs with sweeps and reverse sweeps.

Left-arm spinner Noman drew first blood when he tempted Crawley (29) into a false drive but the ball flew to backward point and England vice-captain Ollie Pope (three) fell to Sajid for the third time in three innings after fluffing a sweep shot.

Sajid delivered a body blow when he trapped Joe Root, currently the top-ranked test batter, lbw for five with a sharply turning ball.

Duckett, who completed a half-century off 76 balls after hitting four fours and a six, got a reprieve when Noman spilled a return catch but the spinner dismissed the left-hander lbw in the same over with a delivery that kept low to leave England 98-4.

That became 98-5 five balls later and Sajid’s trademark thigh-slap celebration was on display again when first Test triple centurion Harry Brook, who looked ill at ease against the turning ball, was bowled behind his legs for five attempting a sweep.

England risked folding for under 150 after they lost captain Stokes in the third over of the second session, caught by Sajid for 12, but Smith counter-attacked and Atkinson proved a perfect foil.

“I want to be someone who does it in all conditions, not just at home against spin and seam,” Smith said. “To come out here and to put in that performance is quite pleasing.”

Smith, who smashed six sixes and five boundaries in his belligerent knock, raised his half-century off 94 balls and accelerated against leg-spinner Zahid Mahmood before top-edging a slog sweep against Zahid just before tea to miss out on a second century in his ninth Test.

Noman dismissed Atkinson, who offered a tame return catch.

After tea, Sajid removed Rehan Ahmed for nine to complete his third five-wicket haul before also dismissing Jack Leach for 16.

The pitch encouraged England to include Ahmed as a third specialist spinner beside Leach and Shoaib Bashir and after the Pakistan spinners’ exploits, their slow bowlers came to the fore.

Off-spinner Bashir gave England the first wicket when he trapped Abdullah Shafique leg before on the back foot and Jack Leach accounted for Saim Ayub, who fell into an England trap by giving a head-high catch to Root at short mid-wicket.

England got another boost in the final session when Atkinson bowled Kamran Ghulam who made a hundred on his Test debut in Multan.

“We would have liked to go with one down, but we lost three wickets,” Sajid said. “Now we need a good healthy lead as Shan Masood and Saud Shakeel should bat for the first hour and we must keep wickets in hand.”

SCOREBOARD

ENGLAND (1st Innings):

Z. Crawley c Saim b Noman 29

B. Duckett lbw b Noman 52

O. Pope lbw b Sajid 3

J. Root lbw b Sajid 5

H. Brook b Sajid 5

B. Stokes c Salman b Sajid 12

J. Smith c Rizwan b Zahid 89

G. Atkinson c&b Noman 39

R. Ahmed b Sajid 9

J. Leach st Rizwan b Sajid 16

S. Bashir not out 1

EXTRAS (B-3, LB-1, NB-3) 7

TOTAL (all out, 68.2 overs) 267

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-56 (Crawley), 2-70 (Pope), 3-80 (Root), 4-98 (Duckett), 5-98 (Brook), 6-118 (Stokes), 7-225 (Atkinson), 8-241 (Smith), 9-258 (Ahmed)

BOWLING: Sajid 29.2-4-128-6, Noman 28-2-88-3 (3nb), Zahid 10-1-44-1, Salman 1-0-3-0

PAKISTAN (1st Innings):

Abdullah Shafique lbw b Bashir 14

Saim Ayub c Root b Leach 19

Shan Masood not out 16

Kamran Ghulam b Atkinson 3

Saud Shakeel not out 16

EXTRAS (LB-5) 5

TOTAL (for three wickets, 23 overs) 73

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-35 (Abdullah), 2-43 (Saim), 3-46 (Kamran)

STILL TO BAT: Mohammad Rizwan, Salman Ali Agha, Aamer Jamal, Noman Ali, Sajid Khan, Zahid Mehmood

BOWLING: Leach 10-0-33-1, Atkinson 3-2-2-1, Shoaib 8-0-29-1, Root 1-0-3-0, Rehan 1-0-1-0

Published in Dawn, October 25th, 2024