England battled their way into a decent position after day one of the series-deciding third Test against Pakistan in Rawalpindi, reducing their hosts to 73-3 in reply to their 266.
Jamie Smith’s brilliant 89 off 119 balls first rescued England from a perilous position of 118-6 after a collapse of four for 28 prior to lunch was swiftly added to with the wicket of skipper Ben Stokes (12) soon after the interval.
In the evening session, Shoaib Bashir, Jack Leach and Gus Atkinson all then struck as Pakistan’s first innings got off to a sputtering start.
The preparation of the Rawalpindi pitch has been the subject of much discussion in the build-up to the Test, with Pakistan seeking a turning track much like the used Multan surface they romped to victory on a week ago to level the series.
The odd ball did turn, with a few also keeping low – Ben Duckett (52) particularly unfortunate to fall lbw when struck about ankle-height after a fine half-century – but 267 looked a below-par score before England too made inroads with ball in hand late in the day.
Stokes wore a giddy smile after winning the toss, knowing that Pakistan’s tireless efforts to produce a worn surface could now play in his side’s favour, his decision to bat first more crucially setting up the opportunity to bowl last.
Duckett and Zak Crawley (29) only added to England’s buoyant mood as they added 56 for the first wicket over the opening hour before the latter skewed a loose drive to backward point off Noman Ali (3-88).
The badly-out-of-form Ollie Pope wore all of his series struggles in a jittery and jabby 14-ball 3 before falling lbw to Sajid Khan (6-128), the first of his six wickets in the innings – and the first of two in consecutive overs to trigger a top-order collapse.
Joe Root (5) also succumbed cheaply to the off-spinner, a sharp turner trapping England’s star batter lbw on the back foot, while Duckett departed soon after notching his 12th Test fifty and Harry Brook (5) was bowled round his legs by Sajid when sweeping.
Stokes became Sajid’s fourth victim when nicking off to slip soon after lunch, but far from meekly subside in the remainder of the afternoon session, Smith and Gus Atkinson blasted England back into the game with a sensational 105-run stand for the seventh wicket.
Atkinson smashed three fours off one Zahid Mahmood over, but it was Smith who generally played the role of aggressor, taking on the straight boundaries to great effect off Pakistan’s spinners, clearing the ropes on six occasions and adding five boundaries.
The century stand was finally ended in somewhat tame fashion as Atkinson chipped a return catch back to Noman, while Smith top-edged Zahir (1-44) when 11 short of a second Test ton as he for once looked to slog-sweep rather than hit straight and it proved to be his downfall.
Smith’s score initially stood at 91 at that stage but he and England were ultimately docked two runs after one of his earlier boundaries was incorrectly registered as a six.
The tail provided little resistance beyond the tea interval, with Sajid wrapping up the innings and his six-for as Pakistan set about their reply with the bat.
Bashir (1-29) struck first for England, picking up Abdullah Shafique (14) lbw, while Leach (1-33) added his opening partner Saim Ayub (19), before Atkinson (1-2) bowled second-Test centurion Kamran Ghulam (3) through the gate with a beauty to reduce Pakistan to 46-3.
England were actually rewarded with a couple of further wickets on field, but a couple of curious decisions by umpire Sharfuddoula were correctly overturned on DRS, with no bat detected on either of the appeals for close-in catches off Saim on 13 and Saud Shakeel when on 1.
Shakeel (16no) and his captain Shan Masood (16no) instead live to fight another day, with the Test and the series nicely in the balance going into day two.
Smith: Third Test to be decided by small margins
England batter Jamie Smith speaking to Sky Sports Cricket:
(Any disappointment on missing out on a hundred?): “I think I’d say I’m pleased again. I stuck to my guns in the last game, trying to be really positive, and it probably didn’t quite come off the way I’d have liked it to.
“So, to come out here, put that performance in and allow us to press on to a pretty decent score on this wicket, I’m pretty pleased.
“There was enough in the wicket to take those three wickets. We’ve just got to keep building the pressure and force them to make the mistakes as the game goes and the pitch deteriorates further.
“This game will absolutely be decided by small margins. When you don’t have a massive first-innings score of 400, any lead you can get might count as double, especially with the low bounce as the game goes on. That is going to make it harder to score.”
Nasser: It was like an arm-wrestle | ‘Could be low-scoring thriller’
Sky Sports’ Nasser Hussain:
“It’s pretty even, at the moment. You’d say Pakistan will have to bat last and it will turn more and more.
“It’s like an arm-wrestle. Slowly it’s gone one way and then another. After an eventful day, it’s still in the balance.
“I think it’s going to be a cracking three days. I think the pitch may well turn and roll along the ground… you never know in Pakistan. It could be a low-scoring thriller to decide this series.”
First Test: Multan – October 7-11 – England won by an innings and 47 runs
Second Test: Multan – October 15-19 – Pakistan won by 152 runs
Third Test: Rawalpindi – October 24-28
Watch day two of the second Test between Pakistan and England in Rawalpindi, live on Sky Sports Cricket and Main Event from 5.50am on Friday, ahead of play starting from 6am. Stream with NOW
