Pakistan's late wickets pose huge challenge for England in second Test | Pakistan vs England 2024

Despite the chaos that preceded this game, Pakistan are in control. It's not over yet, but it's starting to feel decided: England have never been more than 209 behind to win a Test in Asia, and their target here is 297, the pursuit of which came in the final half hour of the On the third day the worst style imaginable began.

Common sense suggested an attempt to simply hold out for the last 11 overs before stumps and regroup overnight to protect the wickets and therefore hope. England lost both their openers in the first four overs and by a total of three runs. This is a team defined by sticking to convention, with often exhilarating results, but sometimes the situation calls for sobriety.

Ben Duckett, the first innings centurion, lasted just two balls before taking his trademark swing for the first time, top-edging high into the dusky sky as Mohammad Rizwan ran behind the stumps a few paces to his right to make the catch. Zak Crawley advanced to Noman Ali but was caught out both by the trajectory of the ball and in due course by Rizwan. After 11 for 2, Ollie Pope and Joe Root held on until the end as England finished 36 for 2, still 261 behind.

They will feel like an achievable goal was within their grasp, but it slipped through their fingers, along with the two easy catches that would have sent Agha Salman back to the dressing room for a single-digit score. Salman accepted these acts of charity and showed none of his own as he won the game on his way to 63, while at the other end Sajid Khan continued his journey from entertainer to executioner.

Gradually England ran out of ideas and hope as the shadows grew longer and Pakistan's lead also increased. On a pitch now in its eighth day of action, where calm, controlled batting was beginning to feel like a distant memory rather than an imminent future, the ninth-wicket partnership cracked the code. Salman and Sajid became Pakistan's SAS; for England it was SOS.

By the time Salman missed a pull to Ben Stokes at midwicket deep in the final session, they had put together 65 from 73 balls, scattering the English field as they increased their ambition and the pace of their scoring, with no chances in return to offer. Since Root fell to Sajid the day before, 16 wickets earlier, no pair had managed more than 37. Salman dropped to four and then six and, at 63, was just over double the score of all his teammates.

In the morning, England increased their overnight total from 239 for six to 291, completing a miserable and game-winning collapse of 211 for two on Wednesday afternoon. After the fall of her third wicket, her last seven partnerships added (in order) 13, one, nothing, 23, eight, six and finally 29. When that list is topped by Jack Leach – whose 25 at No. 10 was the highest outdoor score in the top four – and Shoaib Bashir, you know you're in trouble. Given the condition of the pitch, a deficit of 75 in the first innings already looked daunting.

The irrepressible Sajid took three of the last four wickets and finished with seven for 111, a tally the 31-year-old has only beaten once during his career for all teams and in all formats – he has had just three five-ferrs since 2021 won, two of them during his time playing for Walsden (and once for Clitheroe) in Lancashire that summer. His last three appearances before this game, all in the recently concluded one-day domestic competition, the President's Cup, yielded no wickets at all.

Pakistan's second innings began with spin and pressure from both sides and their traditionally weak opening partnership. Abdullah Shafique had scored four goals and his team nine when he edged out a ball from Bashir that went down the leg side and was caught by UltraEdge on review. At least he and Saim Ayub had increased their average as the opening pair to 4.7 after 10 innings.

When Shan Masood secured second slip shortly afterwards with Pakistan's lead at exactly 100, England's goal of limiting their fourth innings target to an obviously achievable level seemed, like those catches, within reach. Six more wickets fell without any batter doing irreparable damage, all but Aamer Jamal reaching at least 22 and none scoring more than 31. But just as the innings seemed to be coming to an end, England lost control of their progress and lost control of theirs Catches.

Bashir and Jack Leach bowled most of the overs, but in the middle of the day England switched to seaming for a while and Carse responded with an excellent and scandalously under-rewarded five-over spell.

It started when he stopped Mohammad Rizwan just as he was accelerating his bid to put England out of the game, the third time he had dismissed Pakistan's wicketkeeper in three innings. Root collected the catch at slip quite efficiently, but soon those hands and his team lost their grip.

Shortly after lunch, Carse found Saud Shakeel's edge, the ball flying high and quickly to Root's right, past him before he could react. If this chance was difficult enough to just qualify as such, they would quickly find it easier, and twice in an over Salman offered regular catches against Carse. Jamie Smith somehow managed to defeat the first, Root at Slip the second. The worst thing about England's position was their own part in creating it.