Key events
87th over: Pakistan 328-4 (Saud 35, Naseem 0) The nightwatchman Naseem is beaten twice in Woakes’ first over, the second by a beauty. “Wasted on a tailender,” says Rameez Raja on commentary.
A maiden to start. England will want rid of Naseem as soon as possible so that the seamers are fresh when they bowl at Mohammad Rizwan. He’s such a perky strokeplayer, definitely not the kind you want to come up against when you can barely feel your legs.
Chris Woakes will open the bowling to Naseem Shah, with three slips and a gully in place. Big first 10 minutes coming up.
Before we start, a very happy birthday to the youngest Invincible.
Simon Burnton
A couple of snippets from Multan
-
It’s noticeably cooler today than it has been previously, and there’s some cloud cover that was much thicker an hour ago but hasn’t quite burned off yet. I’m sure it’ll still be roasting hot in a couple of hours, but probably less so than yesterday and every little helps.
-
Jimmy Anderson is here!
At the Women’s T20 World Cup, the magnificent Nat Sciver-Brunt made light of an awkward runchase against South Africa to give England their second win in as many games.
The sight of one of the backroom staff doing the post-play interview usually means a very bad day at the office. Yesterday was more nuanced, and the spin bowling coach Jeetan Patel was full of praise for England during a most enjoyable interview.
Andy Bull on a day of hard yakka for England’s seam attack
These days England have a couple of electric fast bowlers of their own. The trouble is that one of them, Mark Wood, is just beginning a recovery from injury, and the other, Jofra Archer, is just finishing it. They have a wicked spinner too, but Adil Rashid, is so over Test cricket that while England were labouring away in Multan, he was (no joke) taking part in an Instagram livestream to promote the firm doing his hair replacement therapy. They had one of those ingenious seamers, too, but Jimmy Anderson was finishing playing in a golf pro-am before flying over to do some coaching because he has been railroaded into retirement.
Read Simon Burnton’s day one report
Shan Masood’s position as captain and in the team has become the subject of debate in recent months, and it had been more than four years and 26 innings since he last scored a Test ton, in which time his average was a miserable 20.69. But it swiftly transpired there were no demons in this pitch, and none in his head either.
Preamble
Hello you. Now, we know a Test series is up and running when one immortal, hackneyed phrase is used for the first time: ‘big first hour’. That’s what awaits Pakistan and England in Multan, with both having the chance to take control of the first Test. Pakistan will be eyeing 600+; England would be very happy to keep them to 450 on a pitch which is likely to secrete runs for the first three days of the match.
Pakistan will resume on 328 for four, with Saud Shakeel on 35 and the nightwatchman Naseem Shah yet to score. The smart money is still on Pakistan going huge, but the first hour could change that.
The second new ball is five overs old, so this is England’s chance, although their seamers are likely to be pretty sore after a six and a half hours of toil yesterday. Then again, that’s a good incentive to take early wickets and ensure they don’t face another day in the dirt.