A series that started with England breaking records ended with England being simply broken. Where they needed to fight, they faltered, where the situation called for strength, they surrendered, and Pakistan won by nine wickets in Rawalpindi to take the series 2-1.
The morning session was billed as a chance for them to fight for the tournament and their reputation turned into a mean team, starting with the batsmen as England limped to a dismal 112 Off the field, then the boundaries were broken as Pakistan cavorted to their ridiculous target.
England started the match trailing by 53 runs with three wickets already down but still had two batsmen at the crease who had shared a 454-run partnership two games ago, albeit in a very A different venue and a very different world. This time they only got 10% of the total, which is as good as it gets for tourists. The game fell apart when Harry Brooke was sent off. England’s overnight score added just 88 runs, with the last seven wickets worth just 49 runs.
They did take one wicket from Pakistan, but it only allowed Shan Masood to make a cameo, dismissive and even contemptuous. To score 22, he still needs to hit his first four balls, hit a four, hit a fifth single, hit a sixth and hit a six. He scored 70% of England’s boundaries in 224 balls in England’s second innings in 6 balls.
For the first half hour or so of the day, with the sun shining and the birds singing, Brooke and Root looked like they had everything under control. It says a lot about England’s innings that they scored 42 runs in this period, with most, if not all, of their carefree runs being their best.
On one chance, Sajid Khan found Brooke’s edge and the ball flew towards short leg, giving Abdullah Shafiq enough time to take a touch. There were some brilliant strokes and, equally importantly, the batsmen approached the moment with the careful vigilance the situation demanded. But when things start going wrong, things get really bad.
Noman Ali got the breakthrough and Brooke failed because of a little extra pace in the first frame. The ball had no spin and the batsman had no room to execute his chipping attempt as the ball was clamped high on the bat and probably only touched his thumb, entering the wicketkeeper’s glove. England scored 66 points but were still 11 points behind.
As long as Ben Stokes was in the middle, the visitors had a chance, but that proved short-lived. His dismissal was bizarre, almost inexplicable, not affording a shot to a ball that turned slightly towards him and hit his upper thigh. The captain’s decision is made by a player who is preoccupied or a player who has just woken up. He turned to Root for encouragement to review, but there was none. Stokes scored three times as England trailed by seven points.
Jamie Smith’s first-innings knock of 89 felt crucial at the time and showcased his ability even under pressure, on a turning surface, against quality spinners with the wind in their sails. He lasted for 16 balls here and then ran down the track to Sajid and crossed the line with an agricultural hawick, which spun so hard that it beat him from the inside on its way to the stumps. Smith scored three times and England trailed by two points.
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By this time, England’s ambitions had shifted from targeting Pakistan as a Test to simply playing them again. Root stayed long enough to at least guarantee that, and then he was beaten by a superb delivery from Norman, who took advantage and was caught well by Mohammad Rizwan behind the stumps. His score was 33: not overwhelming, but it said everything about England’s innings and his contribution can accurately be described as outstanding – Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Stokes and Smith contributed just 21 in total.
It would be cruel to say the game petered out from there, because it barely petered out at all. · Ahmed Similar move, Rehan Ahmed tried to paddle the ball down the leg side but missed and saw the bumper light up. Norman flew slow, short and wide, daring Jack Leach to pop out of his crease to catch it. He did come out of his crease but he didn’t get there and it was Rizwan who did the rest.
