ENG vs PAK: ENG wins by 74 runs!

ENG vs PAK, Test: England 657 (Brook 153, Crawley 122, Pope 108, Duckett 107) and 264 for 7 dec (Brook 87, Root 73, Crawley 50) beat Pakistan 579 (Babar 136, Imam 121, Shafique 114, Jacks 6-161) and 268 (Shakeel 76, Anderson 4-36, Robinson 4-50) by 74 runs

Surely, a win is a win? Nope. On the last night of a remarkable Test against Pakistan in Rawalpindi, England’s celebrations of a historic victory by 74 runs are understandably full of extreme tubthumping. The visitors’ bold declaration at tea on the penultimate day gave them four sessions to claim 10 wickets on a pitch that produced 1768 runs, the third-highest total in the match’s history. Pakistan needed 343 runs to win. 

After Monday’s tea, there were still five wickets to be taken, and the sun was sinking quickly and threatening to set. But Ben Stokes and his team rose to the occasion, and Player of the Match Ollie Robinson’s two wickets in two overs, followed by James Anderson’s two wickets in the same over, gave them the advantage they required. In Pakistan’s second innings, Robinson and Anderson each took four wickets, but it was spinner Jack Leach who took the final wicket, Naseem Shah, with what could have been just a few seconds left. 

This gave England its first Test victory in Pakistan in 17 years. On the flattest of tracks, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, and Ben Duckett’s centuries in England’s record-setting first innings of 657 were put into perspective as Pakistan produced three of their own to reduce the tourists’ lead to 78 runs, with Will Jacks taking six wickets on his debut. Then came another Creek star turn, his fast fire 87 off 65 balls the feature of Britain’s subsequent innings, upstaged simply by Stokes’s unexpected choice to pronounce. 

However, the final day and its final 90 minutes were the deciding factors

England were vindicated in their decision not to take the new ball that became available three overs after tea after finally coaxing an aging ball to reverse after lunch. With Agha Salman and Azhar Ali making a half-century for the fifth wicket and Pakistan needing another 86 runs to win in the final session, Robinson caught Salman with an in swinger that pinned him back in his crease. 

England overturned the initial not-out decision because ball-tracking showed he was on target. Robinson’s inswinger shaved the outside of Naseem Shah’s off stump about a third of the way up on the next ball, but the bails stayed put. However, Azhar was caught at leg slip by Joe Root, who was attempting to flick another inswinger off his hip, in no time.

With the bat, Stokes supported his two main seamers with a typically courageous haul, and Anderson capitalized with two quick wickets late in the day. Standing in for Ben Foakes, who had not recovered from the stomach bug that had struck the England camp on the eve of the match, he dismissed Zahid Mahmood thanks to a fantastic diving catch down the leg side by Pope. 

Luck only favors the bravest One of the best wins in Test cricket#ENGvPAK #EngvsPak pic.twitter.com/AlfVEfycuv

— Cricket Winner (@cricketwinner_) December 5, 2022

After two balls, a full inswinger from Anderson hit Haris Rauf on the pads. Rauf, who suffered a quad strain during this match and will miss the next Test in Multan, unsuccessfully requested the DRS, and the umpire upheld his dismissal. As Naseem and Mohammad Ali staged crucial resistance with their final-wicket stand, Naseem rode luck, edging Stokes between Pope and Root at first slip. With the light rapidly fading, Stokes finally took the second new ball, but Leach won the game when he pinned Naseem on the front pad, delaying the tourists’ full-blown jubilation despite the batter’s hopeful review. Imam-ul-Haq, who had steadied his side from 25 for 2 on the fourth day but added only five to his overnight 43 before being strangled by Anderson down the leg side, was England’s only victim in the morning session. 

Mohammad Rizwan and Saud Shakeel attacked England’s spinners in the morning session, and Pakistan added 89 runs to their overnight score of 80 for 2, despite only scoring 13 runs in the first hour. Therefore, following lunch, Stokes entered the fray in the first over and discovered some reverse swing, which Anderson used to devastating effect. On 46, Anderson struck out Rizwan, ending an 87-run stand with Shakeel with a shot that reversed just enough to find an edge that flew through to Pope. Azhar, who had retired hurt the previous evening after Robinson dealt a nasty blow to the finger, was reinstated following the dismissal. When Shakeel fell after scoring a fine half-century on debut, Robinson struck again. 

Keaton Jennings, a substitute fielder for the injured Liam Livingstone, took a mid-air stunner leaping to his right after Robinson snagged Shakeel with a fuller ball outside off. England had set attacking fields throughout. When Robinson hit Salman on the pad while he was lunging forward, England thought he had a second chance. However, on review, with the ball going down the leg side, the umpire Joel Wilson upheld his not-out decision. England were convinced when Salman was given out lbw on a return to spin after being struck in the midriff while attempting to slog-sweep Leach, if that was the breakthrough they needed. 

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However, when the DRS revealed that the ball was going over the stumps, the batter overturned his dismissal. Robinson saw Pope miss a tough chance down the leg side off Azhar on 36 in the over before tea, adding to their problems. Eventually, no possibilities or half-chances made a difference as Britain’s understanding and freshly discovered confidence in themselves under Stokes and lead trainer Brendon McCullum won the day.