2 minute read

Zahid Mahmood took a wicket today. That was a pretty big moment. It’s been a while since anyone other than Noman Ali or Sajid Khan took one for Pakistan. To be honest, Zahid was lucky to even get a bowl.

In the second Test, Noman Ali bowled 44.3 overs and Sajid Khan got through 43.2 overs. The next heaviest workload among Pakistan’s bowlers was carried by Zahid Mahmood and Aamer Jamal, who bowled six overs each.

Today Noman and Sajid opened the bowling and honestly for a while it looked like that was all we were going to get. Ben Stokes had commented before the match that he already knew which sides they were going to bowl from, simply by looking at which parts of the pitch had been naturally worn down by the natural raking of the grounds crew.

Sajid bowled 29.2 overs and took six wickets. Noman bowled 28 overs but could only muster three, meaning Zahid had to deliver 10 full overs, taking the crucial wicket of Jamie Smith (who continues to fulfill his assignment).

Spinners who work together in this way are often and tiresomely labeled as ‘spin twins’, but Noman and Sajid are certainly not identical.

We’re not exactly in Arnold Schwarzenegger/Danny DeVito territory here, but we can tell you that Noman has a slight bus conductor vibe about him…

…while Sajid doesn’t…

Suppose it depends which bus you take.

However, we are pretty sure Sajid prefers the limelight. This is how he celebrates his wickets.

England are currently bowling a lot of spin themselves and are working their way into Pakistan’s best batsman.

Did you… see the butter/dragonfly that Zak Crawley tried to run away from?