Pakistan v England: Ben Duckett injured but Zak Crawley remains unbeaten for half a century as visitors hit back in first Test | Cricket News

England continued to fight hard in the first Test against Pakistan in Multan but ended the second day 460 runs behind the hosts at 96-1 in the first innings.

The tourists' task was made more difficult by opener Ben Duckett's thumb injury when he dropped the final Pakistani wicket.

However, there is no official word yet on the extent of the damage and whether Duckett can still bat in this innings or for the rest of the Test Sky Sports' Nasser Hussain shared in a comment: “He will not undergo any examination so they must be clear about that.”

Live Test cricket

Wednesday, October 9th, 5:50 a.m

Pakistan managed 556 in their first innings on this desperately flat Multan pitch, while England's bowlers again performed admirably but without much reward.

Brydon Carse (2-74) took his maiden Test wicket by defeating stubborn nightwatchman Naseem Shah (33) and while Mohammad Rizwan soon fell to Jack Leach (3-160) for a duck, marched Salman Agha (104 no) to middle and promptly hit a magnificent 108-ball century – the third for the innings.

England were disrupted by Duckett's injury just as they were about to bat, then lost captain Ollie Pope – who had moved to the top of the order – for a duck caught by Aamer Jamal at mid-wicket with a stunning diving catch became.

But Zak Crawley (64 no) and Joe Root (32 no) gave another nod to the battered batting track as they shared an unbroken 92-run stand through to stumps to give hope of a continued England fightback on day three .

Just like on the first day of the match, the visitors were busy with the ball, especially in the morning, but were then frustrated by a 64-run partnership between Saud Shakeel (82) and Naseem.

Although the pair proved difficult to dislodge, the scoring rate was at least slowed down considerably – only 69 runs were added in the opening session – and when Carse finally struck on debut and Leach subsequently beat Rizwan, Pakistan were reeling somewhat at 393-6.

Shakeel and Agha recovered after lunch to take the score to 450 before Shoaib Bashir (1-124) picked off the former with a fine shot, narrowly missing and Carse grabbed a second when he pinned Jamal (7) in front – again two wickets fell within three overs.

England would have been thrilled to dismiss Pakistan for less than 500 on such a flat deck, but Agha countered superbly, taking advantage of a depleted English attack that was noticeably flagging as the innings progressed.

Surviving a remarkable scare when he was just 15, Agha was fortunate to have Chris Woakes pass a catch to himself on the long-off boundary and eventually score a six – a sensational performance from the experienced all-rounder that unfortunately remained unrewarded because his right foot only had a chance to make contact with the ground behind the boundary rope.

There was also a twelfth of twelve unsuccessful reviews from Pope as skipper, hopefully calling for DRS when Agha was on 67, only for Leach's delivery to be a throw outside leg stump.

Agha scored a well-deserved third Test ton, with Leach finally breaking Shaheen Afridi (26) two balls later, ending their crucial 85-run partnership for the ninth wicket.

Surprisingly, this did not lead to an explanation and England then missed two golden opportunities to end the innings early, as Jamie Smith bowled an easy shot to Abrar Ahmed and Gus Atkinson dropped a sitter an over later before Root finally took his wicket – if also at a cost, with the injury to Duckett.

Such a rocky end to the innings and the loss of Duckett, which led to a change in the batting line-up, would have caused great concern within the England ranks about the sudden dismissal of their skipper in the second over of their reply.

But Crawley and Root fought their way to the stumps with determination without further defeat, with Crawley in particular looking good as he notched up 11 boundaries in his unbeaten half-century.

What should England do if Duckett is injured?

Nasser Hussain from Sky Sports:

“I personally wouldn't start with Ben Stokes but he could do it (for the rest of the series), he's as technically sound as anyone.”

“In these conditions the opening is not like in England, where it is more of a specialist position. If it were England I would probably name a specialist opener, be it Keaton Jennings, Alex Lees or Rory Burns.”

“I don’t think they will. If anything they will do what they did tonight and move Pope up and Jordan Cox into the middle order, or Stokes if he is fit.”

(On England's hopes in this Test): “In the McCullum-Stokes era, England have conceded 500 goals twice and won both games – against New Zealand at Trent Bridge and in Rawalpindi in 2022.”

“That’s one thing about England’s batting line-up: they score their runs so quickly they can sneak up on you.”

“Zak Crawley’s break probably did him some good. He hits the line so well he can pin you. Your margin for error on line and length is tiny.”

Watch day three of the first Test between Pakistan and England in Multan, live on Sky Sports Cricket and Main Event from 5.50am on Wednesday, before the match from 6am. Stream with NOW

Fabio Wardley's big rematch with Frazer Clarke is on the epic Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol program on Saturday October 12th live on Sky Sports Box Office. Book Wardley vs Clarke 2 and Beterbiev vs Bivol now!