Big picture: Rip up the script, and go again
The fans have been out in force in Multan this week, but not, as might be justified, to protest against the failings of a Pakistan team that has now lost six Tests in a row. Instead, they’ve been whirring away at either end of the heavily-watered strip of concrete that doubled as a record-breaking Test wicket during last week’s first Test, willing it to transmogrify into something completely out of character.
Desperate times call for desperate measures, but this has been an extraordinary response to last week’s humiliating series opener. To lose by an innings after scoring 556 is akin to being eaten by a shark while sitting at the top of a tree. It’s been an assault on Pakistan’s perception of reality, and an open invitation to paranoia, with the sense that nowhere is safe from an England team that has now transcended the hosts’ conditions to win four away Tests on the bounce.
Who knows what awaits after the fans have done their bit, besides a rather lower-scoring contest than was the case over the first five days of this pitch’s existence. The cracks that played their part in reducing Pakistan to 82 for 6 in their second innings are bound to bring the spinners into the game from the outset of this second Test, which could in theory concertina the entire contest and increase Pakistan’s chances of claiming the 20 wickets that so clearly eluded them first-time out.
For England, the primary challenge may be a mental one. Harry Brook and Joe Root went to the wall during their epic 454-run stand in the first Test, with the effort of endurance in Multan’s sweltering heat at least equal to that posed by Pakistan’s attack. Finding the will to start again from scratch, especially on what is nominally the same surface, could be an interesting psychological experiment.
That said, there are plenty of hungry batters elsewhere in that England order, including both Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, who let huge hundreds slip through their own fingers … and the luckless Ollie Pope, who spanked his second ball to midwicket for 0 after taking one for the team as a stand-in opener. Much as Freddie Flintoff might be doing for failed contestants on Bullseye later this year, he then had to “look at what you could have won” as the prizes were paraded before him.
Form guide
Pakistan LLLLL (last five Tests, most recent first)
England WLWWW
In the spotlight – Shan Masood and Shoaib Bashir
Team news: Pakistan name three spinners; Stokes returns
Pakistan: 1 Saim Ayub, 2 Abdullah Shafique, 3 Shan Masood (capt), 4 Kamran Ghulam, 5 Saud Shakeel, 6 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 7 Salman Agha, 8 Aamer Jamal, 9 Sajid Khan, 10 Noman Ali, 11 Zahid Mehmood
Stokes is the notable returnee for this second Test, after coming through an extended rehabilitation following his hamstring injury in August. Although there were some reservations about playing him as a frontline seamer in such inhospitable conditions, he has vowed to “sensible” with his workloads – and can at least rely on Leach as an in-form spinning option to provide the lion’s share of the overs. With Matthew Potts slotting in in place of Atkinson, England’s attack has the distinction of fielding three Durham fast bowlers, a prospect that Stokes said would be a “proud moment for the club”.
England: 1 Zak Crawley, 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Ollie Pope, 4 Joe Root, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Ben Stokes (capt), 7 Jamie Smith (wk), 8 Matthew Potts, 9 Brydon Carse, 10 Jack Leach, 11 Shoaib Bashir.
Pitch and conditions: Spin for the win?
If a leopard can’t change its spots, then it’s hard to see how Multan’s strip of rolled mud can be transformed into a spinner’s paradise, just a week after conceding the fourth-highest total ever made in Test cricket. Nevertheless, it is a used surface – which is common enough in white-ball cricket but virtually unheard of in Tests – and it ought to offer more for the bowlers, though quite how much more remains to be seen. Pace and bounce are likely to be short supply once the moisture in the surface has steamed away. Thereafter, it’s a question of what happens to those notable cracks from the first Test.
Stats and trivia
- After his career-best 262 in the first Test, in which he overtook Alastair Cook as England’s leading run-scorer, Root’s average is back above 51 for the first time in more than six years.
- Another victory this week would draw Root level with Shane Warne on 13 wins in Tests in Asia, the most by any visiting player to the region. Leach, with 11 wins in 14 Tests, would move clear of Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting into second place on that same list.
- Abdullah Shafique and Saim Ayub haven’t yet managed a double-figure partnership in eight attempts as Pakistan’s opening pairing. Their current average of 2.87 is by a distance the lowest for any regular partnership in that role.
- Tazeem Ali, the Warwickshire and England Under-19 legspinner, has been bowling in the nets for these two training days while in the country on holiday.
Quotes
“Our instruction to the curator for the first Test was that the ball should spin after the second day. But the pitch didn’t take turn until even the fifth day. Hopefully the ball will begin to take turn on the ninth day.”
Pakistan assistant coach, Azhar Mahmood, explains the rationale behind re-using the same Multan surface
“I’ve obviously got to be sensible. Playing on a used wicket made the decision a little bit easier… but I’m available to bowl, and when I sense the time is right for me to come on and make an impact, there won’t be any doubts in my mind.”
Ben Stokes, England’s captain, is ready to return as a bowler after his hamstring tear
Andrew Miller is UK editor of ESPNcricinfo. @miller_cricket