Key events
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)
Carse off, Potts back on. Salman steers successive boundaries to third man, which makes it four in five balls off the quick bowlers. This is fantastic batting, which brings to mind Ian Bell at his peak in the 2013 Ashes.
Stokes reluctantly plugs the gap, albeit by putting in a gully rather than third man. And now Salman has gone! He opened the face yet again, was surprised by a bit of extra bounce and edged through to Jamie Smith.
A delighted Potts wags his finger in the direction of Salman. The bowler usually has the final word.
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.
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11-6-8-3
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26-16-23-3
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31-8-38-2
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18-9-25-7
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22-11-22-1
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29-14-36-0
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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)
The Carse/Smith combination strikes again: superb delivery, terrific catch!
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
Morning darling. One of cricket’s charms – although some might use a less complimentary word – of cricket is that you can watch for six hours and still not know who’s winning. That was the case on a quietly compelling first/sixth day in Multan, which ended with Pakistan on 259 for 5.
Pakistan have put all their chips on spin bowling, yet it was England’s quicks who were the most threatening and economical. This used pitch will surely go rogue at some stage, so England’s first innings could decide the match. In short, this is a big day. By the end, we might even know who’s winning.
