MULTAN: Ben Duckett attacked Pakistan bowlers, while Joe Root played a stable knock to keep England in control of the third day’s play in the first Test here at Multan Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.
England scored 232-2 at Lunch on Day 3 with Ben Duckett and Joe Root on the crease with scores of 80 and 72 respectively.
Pakistan got the early breakthrough in the morning as they removed set England batter Zak Crawley, who was playing at 78 runs from 85 balls.
However, following the dismissal, Duckett joined Root and together they attacked Pakistan bowlers, constructing a 119* run stand for the third wicket in 124 balls.
Duckett, who could not open the innings yesterday due to a finger injury, particularly played aggressively with a strike-rate of over 100. Meanwhile, the in-form Root continued to show his elegant strokeplay.
At the Stumps on Day 2, England were 96/1 with Crawley, unbeaten with a run-a-ball, 64 and Joe Root, 32 not out, at the crease.
The touring side had a shaky start to their first innings as they lost their interim captain Ollie Pope for a two-ball duck.
But Crawley made an astounding recovery for England with a brisk knock while Root played cautiously until the end of the play.
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Returning Aamir Jamal claimed the solitary wicket for Pakistan on the second day.
Prior to that, Pakistan lost their two wickets in quick succession in the third session after piling up a mammoth 556-run total on the board.
Abrar Ahmed (3) was the last wicket to fall, falling prey to part-time bowler Joe Root. Prior to that, Shaheen Shah Afridi, who scored a crucial 26 runs, was bowled by Jack Leach.
Salman Ali Agha remained unbeaten at 104 runs from 119 balls, which featured ten boundaries and three sixes.
Meanwhile, Pakistan captain Shan Masood top-scored with a marathon 151-run knock from 177 deliveries, featuring 13 fours and two sixes.
Opening batter Abdullah Shafique also played a brilliant innings of 102 off 184 deliveries, laced up with a dozen boundaries including two sixes.
Shan opted to bat first after winning the toss and came out to bat in the fourth over after Saim Ayub (4) fell to Gus Atkinson.
Playing XIs
Pakistan: Saim Ayub, Abdullah Shafique, Shan Masood (c), Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel (vc), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Salman Ali Agha, Aamir Jamal, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, and Abrar Ahmed.
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope (c), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Jack Leach, and Shoaib Bashir.
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