For the majority of two days, England labored in the field, enduring hours of perspiration and sporadic moments of brilliance as Pakistan steadily built a formidable total. This score, while perhaps not daunting to this particular team given their recent victories after conceding over 500 runs, would be intimidating for many others. England maintained their composure, persevering with relentless effort, making occasional breakthroughs but few errors. However, within a matter of minutes, the tide shifted dramatically.
It began with the dismissal of Shaheen Shah Afridi, the ninth wicket to fall for Pakistan at 549. In the subsequent over, Salman Agha, having just reached his century, advanced towards Joe Root, swung, missed, and turned to witness Jamie Smith inexplicably miss the simplest of stumping opportunities. In the following over, Abrar Ahmed top-edged to midwicket, where Gus Atkinson, tracking the ball's trajectory, somehow allowed it to slip through his hands. The next over concluded with Root delivering a bouncer to Abrar, which the batter deflected with the toe of his bat straight to slip, where Ben Duckett caught the ball, ending Pakistan's innings but injuring his left thumb in the process.
Following the change of innings, Ollie Pope, opening for the first time in first-class cricket as Duckett's substitute, powerfully pulled his second delivery over midwicket, where Aamer Jamal leapt to his right, extended his hand, and caught the ball mid-air. England had lost one wicket and, unless Duckett's thumb miraculously healed overnight, one injured batter. Meanwhile, Pakistan's bowlers enjoyed two of the calmest hours of the day to wreak havoc and defend 556 runs.
Together, Zak Crawley and Joe Root steadied the ship, scoring at nearly five runs per over. Crawley displayed particular fluency, coaxing the ball to race across a seemingly sluggish outfield. He reached 50 off just 55 balls, with 10 of them being fours, including two impeccable cover drives off Shaheen in a single over. By the close of play, England was 96 for one, still trailing by 460 runs, with Crawley scoring 64, exactly doubling Root's tally.
Until the tumultuous events unfolded, Salman's innings had been the highlight of the day—a textbook late-innings performance, expertly balancing rapid scoring with care for the tail. At one point, with Shaheen at the other end, he faced 30 of 36 deliveries across six overs, scoring 36 runs, including singles off the final ball of five consecutive overs. He took 71 balls to reach his first 50, and just 37 for his second, pressuring Pope into one of his most questionable reviews yet. England's stand-in captain's running tally stood at 0 out of 12 as he questioned the TV umpire, Chris Gaffaney, about a ball that pitched outside leg stump and would have missed the wicket by at least a foot, potentially trapping Salman lbw. He ended the innings unbeaten on 104 off 119 balls.
But if Chris Woakes's feet were just half a size smaller, none of that would have occurred. Salman had scored only 15 when he launched a Leach delivery down the ground, and the Warwickshire all-rounder settled beneath it. The catch was taken, but with Woakes's momentum carrying him towards the boundary, he tossed the ball back in the air, stopped himself, and caught it again as he leapt back over the padding. It was a remarkable display of outfielding until Gaffaney noticed that as Woakes lifted off, his big toe was still brushing the grass on the wrong side of the rope when he caught the ball for the second time. England paid dearly for that half-second.
Play resumed in the morning with Pakistan at 328 for four, rebuilding after an England fightback. Gradually, Saud Shakeel increased his score from his overnight 35 to an eventual 82, only to be surprised by a Shoaib Bashir delivery that turned and bounced, catching him at slip. Meanwhile, the nightwatchman, Naseem Shah, frustrated England for a further 78 deliveries, scoring slowly but with moments of brilliance—three of them—when he smashed a spinner for six. The 21-year-old is emerging as a competent late-innings batter, capable of occupying the crease to allow a more skilled teammate to score runs. However, he eventually steered a ball to Harry Brook at leg slip, giving Brydon Carse his first Test wicket after contributing a handy 33.
In contrast to the two centurions on day one, Mohammad Rizwan entered this game in excellent form—since the end of 2022, he had averaged 76.71 in nine innings, never scoring fewer than 28. He duly fell for a 12-ball duck, biding his time, easing into his innings, and then scuttling backwards to give himself space to slap a Jack Leach delivery straight to mid-off. This was a day when the predictable and the prosaic occasionally gave way to the completely unexpected.
