… Brook’s 153 caps record-breaking display but England toil for breakthroughs in reply

WITH a mountain to climb, Pakistan openers Imam-ul-Haq and Abdullah Shafique harnessed up and shinnied towards England’s monster first-innings total on the second day of their contest in Rawalpindi.

Harry Brook pressed on from his overnight 101 to reach 153 off just 116 balls as England were bowled out for 657 at better than a run a ball shortly before Lunch The home duo then negotiated more than two sessions unscathed. On a pitch that remained a road throughout both days, to the disgust of PCB chairman Ramiz Raja, they staged an opening partnership approaching the 200-mark with Imam 90 not out at stumps and Shafique on 89.

The pair faced up to a spin attack comprising Jack Leach, Will Jacks and Joe Root with class through a middle session, which contrasted with England’s fireworks of the previous four, but still contained flashes of excitement.

(Scores: Pakistan 181 for 0 (Imam-ul-Haq 90*, Shafique 89*) trail England 657 (Brook 153, Crawley 122, Pope 108, Duckett 107) by 476 runs
Imam launched Leach over the rope at deep midwicket to break a run of 11 dot balls from England’s only frontline spinner and Shafique advanced down the pitch to dispatch Jacks over long-on to bring up Pakistan’s fifty.

Shafique raised his half-century with a glorious drive to the cover boundary off Jacks, his seventh four of the innings, and Imam followed suit a short time later, pushing a Root delivery towards cover for a single.

England served up 21 consecutive overs of slow bowling as captain Ben Stokes set attacking fields. Jacks fulfilled the part-timer role which helped secure him a Test debut when Ben Foakes failed to recover from the sickness bug which swept through the touring camp on match eve and Root reprised one he has played many times before with Liam Livingstone, England’s other debutant and sometime spinner, suffering a jarred knee that kept him off the field for much of the afternoon and evening.

It was all a precursor to James Anderson returning to try and extract some reverse swing. There wasn’t much on offer from the limited evidence of the one over he sent down before tea, nor was there any more than a hint after the break, although there was a chance.

With the fifth ball of the evening session, Anderson fired one into Shafique’s ribs which kissed the glove before sailing down the leg side to Ollie Pope, standing in for regular keeper Foakes. Diving to his left, Pope made an excellent take but the on-field umpires deferred to their TV counterpart, Marais Erasmus, and replays showed that the ball had gone to ground a fraction before meeting Pope’s glove.

Searching for a breakthrough after Leach conceded 12 off the 41st over, Shafique hitting a six down the ground and Imam clearing mid-off for four, Stokes entered the attack to no avail as the hosts stood firm.

Pakistan managed to prise out England’s remaining six wickets by lunch, but not before England had added a further 151 runs, having already amassed 506 for 4, the most runs ever scored on the opening day of a Test match.

Stokes, who had taken England past that milestone with a brutal six over long-on off Mohammad Ali in the dying light on Thursday, unleashed another back over bowler Naseem Shah’s head off the second ball yesterday en route to 41 off 18 deliveries. He was out four balls later when Naseem took the pace off and took out the top of middle stump.

Naseem’s fellow quick, Haris Rauf, sat in the dressing room with his right quad wrapped in an ice pack after rolling over the ball while fielding the previous day. Meanwhile, leg-spinner Zahid Mahmood suffered agony of another kind, his four wickets coming at an eye-watering cost of 235 runs in 33 overs – the most-expensive analysis by a Test debutant.
Livingstone lofted Zahid for six down the ground on the seventh ball he faced in Tests, but he faced just three more before holing out to deep square leg off Naseem.

Brook took to Zahid in a remarkable over, which went for 27 runs. He reverse-swept a six over extra cover, swept the next ball fine for four, and reverse-swept again for another four. He wasn’t done yet either as he hammered the fourth ball for four through long on and lofted next for six back down the ground.

Brook tried to go big once more on the last ball and while he miscued and sent a top edge back over his own head, the ball trickled away for another three runs to compound Zahid’s woe.
Two fours in three balls off Naseem’s next over, the second of which split keeper and first slip for four, brought up Brook’s 150, although he lofted an attempted sweep next ball to Saud Shakeel at deep square leg.

Ollie Robinson took England past 600 with a six off Zahid down the ground before Jacks picked out Naseem at midwicket off Mohammad Ali after a 30-run cameo. Robinson failed to overturn his lbw dismissal off Zahid for 37 and Anderson miscued Zahid’s googly straight to Imam at deep square leg to be last man out.

(Cricinfo)

ENGLAND 1st innings
Zak Crawley b Haris Rauf 122
Ben Duckett lbw Zahid Mehmood 107
Ollie Pope lbw Mohammad Ali 108
Joe Root lbw Zahid Mehmood 23
Harry Brook c Saud Shakeel b Naseem Shah 153
Ben Stokes b Naseem Shah 41
Liam Livingstone c Saud Shakeel b Naseem Shah 9
Will Jacks c Naseem Shah b Mohammad Ali 30
Ollie Robinson lbw Zahid Mehmood 37
Jack Leach not out 6
James Anderson c Imam ul-Haq b Zahid Mehmood 6
Extras: (b-2, lb-10, nb-2, w-1) 15
Total: (all out, 101.0 overs) 657
Fall of wickets: 1-233, 2-235, 3-286, 4-462, 5-515, 6-539, 7-576 8-641 s, 9-649.
Bowling: Naseem Shah 24-0-140-3, Mohammad Ali 24- 1-124-2 (nb-2)-Haris Rauf 13-1-78-1 (w-1), Zahid Mehmood 33-1-235-4, Agha Salman 5-0-38-0, Saud Shakeel 2-0-30- 0.

PAKISTAN 1st innings
Abdullah Shafique not out 89
Imam ul-Haq not out 90
Extras: (b-2) 2
Total: (no wkt, 51.0 overs) 181
Bowling: James Anderson 8-2-16-0, Ollie Robinson 5- 0-21- 0, Jack Leach 19-4-68-0, Will Jacks 12-2-50-0, Joe Root 4 -1-9-0, Ben Stokes 3-0 5-0.