121st over: Pakistan 363-9 (Noman 30, Zahid 2) Zahid is beaten by four consecutive deliveries from Potts, who deserves a third wicket as reward for a skilful, indefatigable performance. He doesn’t get it, at least not yet.

120th over: Pakistan 363-9 (Noman 30, Zahid 2) Noman heaves Carse into the leg side and takes the single; I thought he might try to farm the strike. It doesn’t matter this time because Zahid takes a single of his own next ball. A wide – too short – completes the scoring for the over.

“Guy asks what Cricinfo are saying is a par score for this wicket and match/series situation,” writes Jeremy Boyce. “But isn’t the point that, when considering England, they have ripped up the par score cards, sometimes play the course backwards, and often with just one club, the driver?”

Hang on, what happened to the carvery they were enjoying? You can’t play golf on a full stomach.

119th over: Pakistan 360-9 (Noman 29, Zahid 1) Zahid doesn’t have a first-class hundred, which makes him unique in this Pakistan team. He manages to survive a maiden from Zahid, a decent effort as he has to play all six deliveries.

118th over: Pakistan 360-9 (Noman 29, Zahid 1) Carse almost gets his fourth when the No11 Zahid Mahmood deflects the ball just past leg stump. Terrific stuff from Carse, who continues to impress; his figures are 17-6-45-3.

“You said earlier (over 108) that Noman Ali would be content to stick around as the support act,” says Rob Lewis. “Kind of Noman is an island of stability, I suppose.”

Ho ho. We’ll have all kinds of fun if he is ever plays a Test at Malahide.

WICKET! Pakistan 358-9 (Jamal b Carse 37)

Hang on, the great Lord Selve has appeared in my inbox!

“Don’t forget that Curtly 7 for 25 included the 7 for 1 spell,” he writes. “And I WAS THERE . The one run was a Damien Martyn inside edge that dribbled past short leg. Probably the most inevitable spell of wicket-taking I’ve seen.”

It always amused me that he didn’t bowl well before lunch and was quietly fuming with himself. He bowled a crap spell by his standards and still ended up with 7 for 25! As England found out at Trinidad a year later, an irritated Curtly was a terrifying thing.

(If anyone has a long commute ahead, I did an essay on Curtly’s 7 for 1 for the book Supreme Bowling back in the day.)

The consensus before the game was that a used pitch made it safe to pick Ben Stokes as the third seamer. It hasn’t turned out like that: Stokes has only bowled five overs, which means England have effectively lost around 15 overs of seam. That might be significant. Might not. And the kicker is we’ll never know so this entry is almost entirely pointless!

“So, what’s par here?” says Guy Hornsby. “I mean who knows? What’s Cricinfo’s stats on using the same pitch? It’s probably next to unicorn’s economy rates. But it still feels like this is getting higher than England would want. This partnership, for all of the worries Jamal’s injury, is getting quite irritating. But then what does Jamal being crocked mean for Pakistan’s attack? In the land of Waqar, Imran and Wasim, there could be no pace bowler. There’s uncharted territory, and there’s this Test match!”

I don’t think there’s a single algorithm, never mind human being, that could tell you the par score on a day seven pitch. It’s exciting, eh?

Lunch

116th over: Pakistan 357-8 (Jamal 36, Noman 29) Nope, Stokes doesn’t want to wait for our lives to be over for lunch before making a bowling change. He brings back Brydon Carse to rough up the No10 Noman, who turns the tables with a couple of superb boundaries: a pleasant off drive and a thumping pull over midwicket. Shot!

Funny old game part 93,125: Carse’s first 15 overs cost 19, the last two have gone for 24.

“I’m sure the table was booked for about now, looks like the previous diners are reluctant to finish up and leave,” says Jeremy Boyce. “England’s openers will be hoping that when they finally get to table they don’t overcook the beef…”

115th over: Pakistan 349-8 (Jamal 36, Noman 21) Jamal reverse sweeps Bashir superbly for four, but he hurts his hip again in the process. He’s really struggling and there must be a doubt about whether he can take the new ball this afternoon; if he can’t, Pakistan’s attack will comprise seven spinners and no seamers.

114th over: Pakistan 345-8 (Jamal 32, Noman 21) Leach goes around the wicket to Noman, who hammers a sweep for four with the aid of a misfield from Potts on the boundary. He boots the air in frustration.

England might need a change of pace as these two look quite comfortable. There are only a few minutes to lunch, so perhaps Ben Stokes will wait until afterwards.

There’s a short break in play while Jamal is treated by the physio.

113th over: Pakistan 340-8 (Jamal 31, Noman 17) Jamal tries to sweep Bashir, then bounces around in pain when he gets to his feet. It looks like a hip problem. “Their one seamer…” sniggers Nasser Hussain on commentary.

He’s okay to continue for now. Bashir beats Jamal, then induces an inside-edge past leg stump for a single. Noman toe-ends an attempted cut past slip for four. Useful runs, these.

112th over: Pakistan 334-8 (Jamal 30, Noman 12) Root, under the helmet, is literally on his knees at leg gully as Leach bowls to Noman. It feels like Noman is starting to get bored of playing responsibly. He misses one reverse-sweep, then top-edges a second for three runs. Whatever the method, this is a useful partnership from Pakistan, 25 and counting.

Leach’s over ends with a vicious delivery that roars past Jamal’s outside edge.

111th over: Pakistan 331-8 (Jamal 30, Noman 8) Noman pulls Bashir onto his pad and wide of slip for a single. That was almost a chance.

110th over: Pakistan 329-8 (Jamal 29, Noman 8) It’s spin at both ends now. So far in this innings, the breakdown is:

• Pace 44-13-120-4

• Spin 66-3-202-4

Note the maidens.

109th over: Pakistan 328-8 (Jamal 28, Noman 8) With the left-handed Noman on strike it’s a good time for Shoaib Bashir to replace Potts.

Or maybe not: Noman sweeps his first two deliveries for two and then four. Pakistan have been good at attacking Bashir from ball one so that he doesn’t settle easily into a spell.

108th over: Pakistan 322-8 (Jamal 28, Noman 2) Noman lives a little dangerously against Leach, surviving an LBW appeal and bat-padding short of leg slip.

“As I said to Taha at the close of play yesterday,” begins Jeremy Boyce, “England would be happy to have five wickets in the bag, and be fancying their chances of batting before lunch (very much on the cards now), which they will hope to spread over the rest of the day with a menu of: plenty of beef from the openers, a huge plate of crisp Yorkshire pudding, lashings of gravy-train runs from the lower order, leading to just deserts being served enjoyed in a couple of days’ time. Yummy! How much tip should they leave?”

What if they dribble all that gravy down their nice new cabled shawl-collar cardigan? I think Pakistan are right in this game.

107th over: Pakistan 318-8 (Jamal 25, Noman 1) Potts has a throaty LBW shout against Noman turned down. The umpire Chris Gaffaney thought about it for quite a while, but once he said no England weren’t really interested in a revew. I suspect it was missing leg as Potts is bowling around the wicket to the left-hander.

The replays show it was just clipping leg stump, but that’s a perfectly reasonable decision from the umpire.

106th over: Pakistan 318-8 (Jamal 25, Noman 1) The No10 Noman Ali also has a first-class hundred. Looks like he has game awareness too; he’s doing nothing silly or indulgent, just trying to hang around in support of Jamal.

105th over: Pakistan 317-8 (Jamal 25, Noman 0) Jamal swivel-pulls Potts smoothly for four, a sign that he’s going to get on with it now that Pakistan are eight down. After fresh-airing another pull, although maybe fresh isn’t quite the right word today, he steers deftly past backward point for four more.

“This script screams Return Of The Jedi,” says Krishnamoorthy V. “However, should Pakistan bottle this (actually, should Ben Stokes pull out another rabbit from his bottomless hat), it is officially goodbye to Pakistan cricket.”

No no no. Pakistan could lose 479 games in a row and they’d still be dangerous.

104th over: Pakistan 309-8 (Jamal 17, Noman 0) That wicket is Leach’s 73rd in Tests on the subcontinent, equalling the England record held by a very different left-arm spinner, Derek Underwood. Just behind him is Jimmy Clouderson with 70.

WICKET! Pakistan 309-8 (Sajid c Root b Leach 2)

103rd over: Pakistan 309-7 (Jamal 17, Sajid 2) Jamal takes on a rare short ball from Potts, clunking a pull into the leg side for a couple. After defending a few straight deliveries, he slaps two more through extra cover. Drinks.

“The tail’s wagging, and seeing how the Durham boys have had the cherry dance around, you’ve got to wonder if Pakistan brought the wrong toolkit,” writes Zain Malik. “Jamal’s about to swap his bat for the ball, and if he doesn’t pull a Houdini with both, Pakistan might need more than a miracle to see this through.”

102nd over: Pakistan 304-7 (Jamal 13, Sajid 1) The new batter Sajid Khan edges Leach on the bounce to slip. His first-class record isn’t bad; he has one century and an average of 18.

101st over: Pakistan 302-7 (Jamal 12, Sajid 0) When he first played Test cricket Potts looked like he’d only really thrive in English conditions. But he was a revelation on the A tour of India earlier in the year and he has bowled superbly in this game: 20-6-52-2. He’s a serious contender for next winter’s Ashes.

WICKET! Pakistan 302-7 (Salman c Smith b Potts 31)

100th over: Pakistan 294-6 (Salman 23, Jamal 12) Two from Leach’s over. England need to find a way to get rid of Salman Agha, who is batting expertly and has a series average of 190.

99th over: Pakistan 292-6 (Salman 22, Jamal 11) After conceding 19 from his first 15 overs of the innings, his 16th has gone for 16.

It started promisingly enough, when Jamal tried an uppercut and was beaten. Then he spponed Carse back over his head for four, an unconvincing stroke that elicited a few words from the bowler.

His partner Salman continued to play Carse with striking ease, opening the face to steer a boundary past short third. Carse growled in frustration – so Salman did it again.

Maybe a fifth over of the morning was one too many for Carse.

98th over: Pakistan 276-6 (Salman 12, Jamal 6) Close! Jamal, surprised by a ball that stops in the pitch, chips Leach right between the two close catchers on the off side, Crawley at extra cover and Root at short mid-off.

England have done well this morning: eight overs, 17 runs, one wicket.

On Carse’s figures being nicked from Curtly Ambrose, just look at some of these performances.

• 11-6-8-3

• 26-16-23-3

• 31-8-38-2

• 18-9-25-7

• 22-11-22-1

• 29-14-36-0

• 10-5-5-1

And that last one was in a one-day international.

97th over: Pakistan 275-6 (Salman 12, Jamal 5) Here, want to feel old? Well, Brydon Carse was born the day after Dominic Cork’s hat-trick against West Indies in 1995.

He’s not getting any sideways movement but continues to bowl straight to maximise any extra bounce. Just two singles from the over. Salman has looked very solid against Carse, which can’t be said for all of his teammates.

96th over: Pakistan 273-6 (Salman 11, Jamal 4) Ben Stokes keeps things moving by bringing on Jack Leach in place of Matthew Potts. He has a slip in place and starts by bowling very straight to Salman, who tucks a single to midwicket. Jamal clips another straight one into the deep for two.

95th over: Pakistan 270-6 (Salman 10, Jamal 2) Carse is hitting the bat harder than the speedgun (around 87mph) would suggest. Jamal gets off the mark with a flick off the hip for two; it would have been four but for a sprawling stop from Bashir.

For the second time in as many overs, a batter pulls his glove off the handle after being surprised by some extra bounce. Maybe this pitch is starting to go. Whatever the rights and wrongs of using the same pitch, it has made for some really intriguing cricket.

94th over: Pakistan 268-6 (Salman 10, Jamal 0) Salman looks suspiciously at the pitch after a ball from Potts hits high on the bat. Then he has to squat to defend another that keeps a bit low.

Salman, hitherto strokeless, cracks Potts’ final delivery to the extra cover boundary. Fine shot.

93rd over: Pakistan 264-6 (Salman 6, Jamal 0) Brydon Carse’s figures are 13-6-15-2. He should be done for plagiarising Curtly Ambrose.

Carse squared Rizwan up, got a bit of extra bounce and found the outside edge. It flew towards, who sprung to his right to take an excellent two-handed catch. That was particularly good because his weight was going the other way and he had to change direction in a split second.

WICKET! Pakistan 264-6 (Rizwan c Smith b Carse 41)

92nd over: Pakistan 263-5 (Rizwan 41, Salman 5) After targetting the stumps for the first four balls, Potts throws one wider to tempt Rizwan. He obliges with an excellent cover drive for four.

Rizwan is not out! Too high, and going down as well. England are down to their last review. It was a cracking delivery from Potts though.

Rizwan pushed outside the line of a lovely nipbacker that hit him on the back thigh. Too high?

England review for LBW against Rizwan!

Potts has a big LBW shout against Rizwan turned down. Ben Stokes reviews, albeit a little reluctantly. It looked very close to the naked eye.

91st over: Pakistan 259-5 (Rizwan 37, Salman 5) Carse has one slip, a gully and a short mid-on in catching positions for Salman, who gets into his work with a few watertight defensive strokes.

As mentioned previously Salman is a very good No7. Of those with at least 500 Test runs in that position, his average of 49 is the tenth highest. It’s a good list. Brian McMillan was one cussed bugger, a constant thorn in England’s side in the mid-1990s.

The answer to the below question is seam, specifically Brydon Carse. He’s about to open the bowling.

The second new ball is 10 overs old. Spin or seam? Most of the time that’s a no-brainer; not here. There was more bite for the spinners with the new ball on the first day and the quicks were more dangerous as the older ball started to reverse. Against that, there’s a bit of cloud cover and both Mohammad Rizwan and Salman Agha are excellent players of spin.

I might suggest a bob each way but that’s not usually how Ben Stokes works.

Save the date: 21 November 2025

Kamran Ghulam’s terrific hundred was only the sixth by a No4 batsman on Test debut. That’s fewer than any other position in the top eight. It sounds weird but it actually makes sense. As Yas Rana pointed out on the Wisden Patreon podcast, No4 is such a pivotal position that it usually goes to the most established player, not the least.

There’s no such thing as a bad debut century but the context made this especially good.

“Yesterday’s chat about AI and robot cricketers reminded me of this gem by the great Harry Pearson,” writes Paul Lakin.

This is hilarious, thanks for sending it in. I don’t remember reading it at the time. Sad to think that a piece like this probably wouldn’t be commissioned these days.

The first email of the day comes from Zain Malik

Walking in at 19 for 2 within the first ten overs is pressure enough. Coming in at the behest of a many-headed monster, mid-series at arguably the worst state the team has ever experienced since Lord’s 2010, stepping in as the stand-in for Pakistan’s biggest star since Shahid Afridi on a pitch cursed to spin like it’s been conjured by a sorcerer? And then becoming just the 12th Pakistani to score a century on debut? Yeah, that’s no casual stroll in the park. Sure, it’s not Harry Brook’s 300, but for a nation on the verge of losing faith in their beloved team, Kamran Ghulam walked in and wrote his name in bold.

With every shot he sent back at Leach, it was like he was whispering, “Babar who?” But Ghulam’s century says something more: Pakistan’s domestic circuit still produces world-class talent. The trouble only starts when the players become bigger than the system. And let’s be real an authoritarian board scrambling to fix a broken team mid-series by throwing around big names? Classic PCT.

But hey, it’s another day in Multan. Now, it’s up to Rizzy and Agha. And Agha, sitting at No7, has quietly turned into the anchor of Pakistan’s depth. In 15 Tests, he’s racked up over a thousand runs with three hundreds and eight fifties, at a cool average over 47. A No7 with a 45+ average and legit bowling skills? That’s an all-rounder who deserves way more hype. He’s probably eyeing another century, just to keep things interesting.

As Ramiz Raja put it at Lord’s in 2010, after Pakistan had come from 2-0 down to square the ODI series, a month after the spot-fixing scandal on the same ground: “Out of chaos, brilliance. Only Pakistan…” I can’t think of a team, in any sport, whose incompetence is less trustworthy.

Simon Burnton’s day one report

On this pitch, selected and prepared specifically to assist spinners, England bowled 15 consecutive overs of seam, took two wickets and ­conceded only 40 runs, even though for most of that time half a dozen ­fielders were spread in an ­intimidating ­parabola around the ­batter, leaving wide expanses of empty grass behind them.

Preamble