Key events
Preamble
Morning. When Ben Stokes became England captain in 2022, he was asked whether he might, like Nasser Hussain at the turn of the century, stabilise a desperate team by first making them hard to beat. “Nah,” Stokes smiled. “I don’t think there’ll be too many draws.”
He’s been as good as his word. In the Bazball era England have drawn only one of their 29 Tests, and that was because of two days of miserable, biblical rain in Manchester during the 2023 Ashes.
The next few hours will tell us whether England detest draws of merely dislike them. In their position, the usual approach to would be for at least three hours and go well past Pakistan’s first-innings total, but that increases the chance of the dreaded D-word. An early declaration would make a positive result more likely – but it might also expose England to another D-word, defeat.
It feels weird to talk about a team – an England cricket team – that might genuinely prefer to lose than draw. But that was certainly the case at Trent Bridge in 2022, albeit in slightly different circumstances, so it will be fascinating to see how England play this.
They will resume on 492 for 3, a deficit of 64, after a day of plenty for their batters. Ben Duckett defied a busted thumb to make the breeziest of 84s before Joe Root and Harry Brook gave a masterclass in the business of run-scoring.
Root, the precocious scamp who grew up to be a genius, became England’s highest Test run-scorer en route to 176 not out; Brook went up and down the gears like a veteran and still managed to score 141 not out from only 173 balls. There should be loads more runs out there today, if England want them.
