The ball went in and then out – and with it went England’s best chance of another miracle in Multan.
Pakistan had slumped to 122 for five, ahead of just 197 and while vulnerability threatened to resurface in the third innings as the persistent Brydon Carse found the edge off Salman Agha’s bat. As the ball headed towards Jamie Smith’s gloves, Carse prepared to celebrate. Inexplicably, Smith dropped it.
Two deliveries later, Agha was dropped again – a bigger chance for Joe Root at first slip, but a chance nonetheless. Carse, who has played his heart out in his first two Tests, let out a shout that might have been briefly confused with the local muezzin’s call to prayer.
Unless England reach a target of 297 – far more than they have ever managed to win a Test in Asia – his cry could go all the way to a decider in Rawalpindi next week, where you can be sure an order has already been placed by the Pakistan Cricket Board for a new spinner.
And England’s slim hopes suffered two crushing blows as the sun disappeared behind the stands. From the third ball of the chase, Ben Duckett scored an ambitious sweep off Sajid Khan and was easily caught by Mohammad Rizwan – a duck who took some of the shine off his first-innings century.
England wicketkeeper Jamie Smith dropped a simple chance off the bowling of Brydon Carse on Thursday afternoon
Two balls later, Joe Root was given a better chance at slip, much to Carse’s horror
The delayed batsman, Salman Agha (pictured), made 63 and took the match away from England
Three overs later, Zak Crawley advanced to the slow left-armed Noman Ali and, just as ambitiously, played against the turn. He missed, allowing Rizwan to complete the punching and leaving Crawley on one knee, looking like a fallen giraffe. He seems devoid of any plan against spin at the moment.
At eleven to two, the target didn’t just look distant: it looked brutal. Ollie Pope and Root stopped the bleeding before stumps with the score unbroken at 25. But it all felt as if England had never fully recovered from Smith’s howls.
At four and six, when he was enjoying his two lives, Agha had made them pay in the afternoon heat. By the time he got Carse into the safe hands of Ben Stokes at midwicket, he had advanced to 63 and added what felt like a decisive 65 for the ninth wicket with Sajid.
With Sajid’s off-breaks previously earning him figures of seven for 111, his recall has been little short of a triumph. He may not be anyone’s idea of a modern athlete, but his energy and snap are exactly what Pakistan needed. After six consecutive defeats, and without a win in eleven home Tests, Shan Masood’s side looked set to end their drought.
England stayed there with the ball as they dismissed Pakistan for 221, with Somerset spinners Jack Leach and Shoaib Bashir taking seven wickets between them, and Leach extending his series run to an impressive 14 off 26. Bashir had his moments, especially before lunch when he removed each of Pakistan’s top three, but often the batsmen just had to wait for the inevitable bad ball in every over.
Once again it was Carse who provided England with most of the threat, removing Rizwan for the third innings in a row and testing the outside edge of any right-hander with pace and resilience. The first Ashes Test in Perth doesn’t start until November 21, 2025, but it will be a surprise if his name is not on the team sheet.
Shoaib Bashir took four wickets in the second innings, including three before lunch
Jack Leach took three wickets as England’s spinners threatened to get their team back into the match after falling behind by 75 runs in the first innings
Brydon Carse was England’s most threatening player but was let down by the side’s fielding
At the moment, however, there is a series to win in Pakistan, and England will shudder to think how much harder they have made life for themselves.
In Pakistan’s first innings, they failed to assess Matthew Potts’ deficit when Rizwan had made just six runs in his final 41. Throw in Smith’s dismissal of Agha and the self-inflicted damage stands at 94.
It wasn’t the best day of Smith’s short and otherwise promising Test career. In the morning, when England’s likeliest hope was one of his muscular cameos, he had failed to impose himself on the Pakistan spinners, adding just nine on his twelfth night, with barely a shot of fury.
Only a final wicket stand of 29 between Leach and Bashir took England, resumed at 239 for six, to 291 – a total collapse of eight for 80.
But Smith’s drop fell into a different category of aberration, the likes of which a Test wicketkeeper might make only two or three times in a long career. He barely had to move to hold low on his left side, but the ball still bounced out of his gloves. It was his worst moment yet behind the stumps.
“I’m sure he’ll be disappointed but he won’t show it,” said assistant coach Paul Collingwood. ‘He never seems to change his behavior no matter what. To me that is a great feature.
“With the catches it’s been unusual to be so close to the bat. With these pitches you have to make sure the ball carries.”
Ben Duckett was dismissed after facing just two balls as the first-innings centurion swept
His opening partner Zak Crawley also fell before the end after being deceived by clever bowling from Noman Ali
England assistant coach Paul Collingwood (right) defended Smith after his missed catch, but it looks set to prove costly
Pakistan’s decision to play the second Test on the same pitch as the first could have been born of desperation, betraying their belief that they could not compete with England on a more conventional surface. And after picking just one sailor, the hosts gambled on winning the toss.
But it all narrowed the gap between the sides and produced a gripping Test match – more gripping, arguably, than last week’s first match, despite the tangle of records.
“I don’t think we can do anything about it,” Collingwood said on the field. “It’s a surprise that it happened, and a bit of a gamble from Pakistan’s perspective because you have to win the toss. It was a gamble they were willing to take.
‘We have to be realistic. It will be a tough chase on what is effectively the ninth day of the wicket. It does enough for the spinners and there are plenty of cracks. But this team is capable of special things and we will enjoy that.’
It was a good example of Bazballian optimism, but the meaning of Smith’s blunder was unclear.
