Pakistan v England: Ben Duckett century helps tourists despite late batting collapse on day two of second Test
Updated 16/10/2024 at 14:53 GMT+1
England have work to do after a late batting collapse on day two of the second Test against Pakistan, with spin bowler Sajid Khan claiming four crucial wickets for the hosts. After Pakistan were all out for 366, England made a good start with the bat thanks to a brilliant century by Ben Duckett. But four quick wickets for Pakistan late in the day helped the hosts reclaim the advantage.
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Ben Duckett’s classy century was overshadowed by a late England batting collapse on day two as Pakistan edged ahead in the second Test in Multan.
England started the day well with the ball, claiming three wickets in the morning session, before the hosts battled back to score 366 to end their innings.
Duckett then led England to a strong start with the bat, with the 29-year-old earning his fourth Test century, but four quick wickets from Pakistan's brutal spin attack – including the key scalp of Duckett for 114 – in four overs helped the hosts reclaim the advantage.
The partnership of Jamie Smith and Brydon Carse, who starred with the ball for England, guided Brendon McCullum’s side to 239/6 at stumps to trail Pakistan by 127 runs.
“Obviously I’m happy with how I played. It would’ve been nice to go back out tomorrow with maybe a couple of wickets less,” Duckett told Sky Sports.
“But credit to them, I thought they bowled so well throughout our whole innings. I felt like that’s a period where they can kind of stop off, and you can get some runs at the back end of the day. They didn’t want to make it easy for us.
“They were right at us until the end of the day, and they got their rewards.”
After a debut ton from Karman Ghulam helped the hosts to 259-5 on the first day, England came out firing with the ball on the same pitch that saw them win the first Test in historic fashion.
Carse claimed his second scalp when Muhammad Rizwan edged a nippy delivery to wicketkeeper Jamie Smith.
The wickets of Salman Ali Agha and Sajid Khan soon followed in the next hour, before the partnership of Aamer Jamal and Noman Ali steadied the ship for Pakistan until lunch.
Jamal departed for 37 after another brilliant delivery from Carse, with Ali falling in the 123rd over to leave Pakistan all out for 366.
Jack Leach finished on 4-114 across 38.3 overs, while Carse was the pick of the England attack with a tidy 3-50 from 20.
England then started well with the bat thanks to the excellent opening partnership of Zak Crawley and Duckett, which ended on 73 when Crawley edged a drive from a tricky Ali delivery to the hands of Rizwan.
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Ollie Pope was next to go for 29, with Khan catching the Englishman out through the gate thanks to some superb off-spin bowling.
After Duckett smashed a four through midwicket to secure his ton, Pakistan’s bowling attack – led by a red-hot Khan who ended the day with four big wickets – seemed to step up a gear, sparking a late England collapse as the sun started to set at the Multan Cricket Stadium.
Joe Root was out for 37 after making an uncharacteristic error on a full Khan delivery to inside edge onto the stumps.
Khan returned two overs later to finally end Duckett’s day on 114 and then added to his wicket haul by stumping Harry Brook for just nine runs.
Noman Ali followed suit in the next over to get Ben Stokes after the England skipper was caught at short leg by Abdullah Shafique.
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Despite the disappointing finish to the day, Duckett believes the “pressure” remains with the Pakistanis.
“I think we’ll really stress that first hour tomorrow … it’s going to be really important that we look to score runs. We know this pitch. It’s definitely not going to be a draw, we’re not going to play for a draw. Runs are going to be so vital.
“That first hour if we can get as close as we can, we know that they can crumble. The pressure is kind of over to them. We’re one nil up in the series, we won the last series 3-0. I know that they’re going to fight the whole way through this game and make it as hard as they can for us, but we always believe we’re in the game.
“We’ve got world class players, two that missed out today. We will be eager to get runs in the second innings. I think if we bowl well, if we can keep the chase to anywhere around 200 or less, we’ll believe that we’re in the game.”
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