It had been a long time coming for Pakistan, but the conclusion was swift Noman Ali and Sajid Khan combined for the second time in the match to bowl out England and seal Pakistan’s first win in a home Test since 2021. Eight wickets fell in less than two hours as England went down in a flurry of sweeps and reverse-sweeps.
Noman claimed seven of them himself to finish with 8 for 46 and 11 for 147 in the match, both career-bests. With Sajid, who took 7 for 111 in the first innings, picking up the other two, they became the first pair to take all 20 wickets in a Test since Dennis Lillee and Bob Massie in 1972.
A crushing result, achieved within three-and-a-bit days on a re-used surface that Pakistan had hoped would help their spinners, means the series is level at 1-1 ahead of the third Test in Rawalpindi. It also provided Shan Masood with his first victory since taking over as captain, after a horror run of six consecutive defeats.
Their success was all the more remarkable given the changes made in response to last week’s crushing innings loss, with Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah dropped and Pakistan selecting a three-man spin attack that had never played together before. In the end, Zahid Mahmood was only required to bowl six overs as Sajid and Noman, playing his first Test since July 2023, dismantled England in tandem.
This was day four of the second Test, but the ninth day of action for the Multan pitch – with three days in between for a quick spritz up – and it was by now offering consistent turn. England’s not-out batters, Ollie Pope and Joe Root, had been practising their sweeps before the start of play and it quickly became clear what the plan of attack was in their attempts to score a further 261 for victory. “Basically getting your broom out,” as Ben Stokes put it afterwards.
Pope, however, didn’t play a shot in anger before becoming the first wicket to fall, poking Sajid’s second ball straight back into the bowler’s hands. Harry Brook attempted to sweep his first ball, Root did likewise and the battle lines were drawn.
Not that such clarity of purpose did England much good. Root and Brook had amassed a record fourth-wicket stand of 454 in the first Test on this pitch but the turnaround in control and composure was stark. Root faced eight balls, attempting to sweep seven of them before being hit on the hip as he stretched out on off stump and played over the ball to be given lbw – a decision confirmed as umpire’s call on review.
Brook got one reverse away to the boundary but his frenetic approach was not built to last and he went back to his 21st delivery, the ball staying a touch low as Noman delivered from round the wicket, to be pinned in front of leg stump swinging across the line. England were 78 for 5, the top order back in the dressing room and the game as good as done.
It was soon 88 for 6, as Jamie Smith top-edged a slog sweep to mid-on three balls after dispatching Noman for four with the same shot. Stokes barely played a straight-bat shot and had the most success, reaching 37 at quicker than a run a ball before he was lured down the pitch by Noman. His swing across the line saw the bat end up somewhere near midwicket as Mohammad Rizwan completed the stumping – a fitting metaphor for England losing their grip.
That was pretty much that, beyond a brief sally from Brydon Carse, who survived being given out lbw to Sajid via the DRS, and subsequently smashed the offspinner for three towering sixes before the guile of Noman induced another swipe and a thin edge to slip. In his next over, Noman plucked out Jack Leach and Shoaib Bashir with consecutive deliveries and Pakistan’s makeshift Multan masterplan had delivered.
Brief scores:
Pakistan 366 (Kamran Ghulam 118, Saim Ayub 77; Jack Leach 4-114, Brydon Carse 3-50) and 221 (Salman Agha 63; Shoaib Bashir 4-66, Jack Leach 3-67) beat England 291 (Ben Duckett 114; Sajid Khan 7-111, Noman Ali 3-101) and144 (Ben Stokes 37, Noman Ali 8-46, Sajid Khan 2-93) by 152 runs
[Cricinfo]
