England completed a breathtaking victory in the first Test against Pakistan, Jack Leach putting the finishing touches to a record-breaking week on the fifth morning in Multan.
The left-arm spinner snapped up the last three wickets on the final day, with last man Abrar Ahmed unable to bat due to illness, to secure one of the most remarkable results of the ‘Bazball’ era.
History Made
The final winning margin was an innings and 47 runs, an unthinkable proposition when Pakistan ended with 556 runs on day two. No team in history has ever scored as many and gone on to lose without making their opponents bat twice.
Pakistan, shellshocked at conceding a 267-run deficit, lost a cluster of wickets on the fourth evening and were finally rounded up by Leach for 220.
In the long span of Test cricket, this was another truly outlandish outlier to rank alongside England’s barely-believable turnaround against India in Hyderabad at the start of the year.
The game began with Pakistan piling up the runs over 149 gruelling overs after winning the toss but they found themselves overwhelmed by the scale of English ambition and the might of their batting line-up.
England responded with a mammoth 823 for seven before declaring, Harry Brook’s triple century the centre-piece of the fourth largest innings in Test history, and the bowlers did the rest.
Jack Leach
Pakistan resumed with minimal hope on the final day and saw Leach take come to the fore to mark his first appearance since January in style.
The left-armer, who has seen his status as first-choice spinner usurped by his Somerset team-mate Shoaib Bashir, played the role of finisher as he took out Salman Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah to finish with four for 30 and match figures of seven for 190.
There was early encouragement for England when Salman flapped at a short ball from Chris Woakes, only for his mis-hit to evade the in-field catchers on the leg side.
He had 47 at the time and quickly advanced to his half-century by flicking Gus Atkinson off his hips for four. With the pitch showing no obvious sign of last-day deterioration it did not take England long to unlock their bouncer strategy.
That meant a burst from their quickest bowler, Brydon Carse, and he soon hurried up Aamer Jamal with a short ball that reared and smashed him on the side of the helmet.
With Abrar absent, Pakistan could hardly afford another loss and, after a lengthy concussion check, he was given the green light to go on.
Wrapping up the win
Carse continued bending his back to dig the ball in, rapping Jamal on the glove from round the wicket but seeing it loop over wicketkeeper Jamie Smith.
Woakes lacked the speed to cause the same problems and saw two of his bumpers dispatched to the boundary by Jamal.
The drinks break brought another change of plan, with Leach entering the fray. This time it took just four balls to do the trick, the left-armer shading one just past Salman’s inside edge and winning the lbw verdict.
The all-rounder called for a review but England knew they had their man. Carse switched ends and should have had Jamal for a hard-fought 50, Pope making good ground under a high catch only to fumble it.
While Pope will take great satisfaction from leading the side in a record-breaking week his own contribution, he also bagged a two-ball duck and struggled to offer an impact in the field.
The Pakistan tail showed little appetite to delay things, swinging with abandon as Leach picked them off. Afridi blasted a drive back down the ground but saw the bowler leap in front of the umpire to gather a smart diving catch, while Naseem managed one six before charging down the wicket and being stumped by Smith.
It had taken just 96 minutes to close things down and handed England a 1-0 win in the three-match series.
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