England and Pakistan kicked-off the second Test of the three-match series on Thursday (August 13) at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton. The English cricket team made two changes in the form of Zak Crawley, who replaced Ben Stokes and all-rounder Sam Curran came in for pacer ♛Jofra Archer.
For Pakistan, middle-order batsman F﷽awad Alam was the only change as he replaced all-rounder Shadab Khan in playing XI. Fawad made a comeback in Test cricket after a💟 gap of 11 years.
After opting to bat first in testing conditions at the Rose Bowl, the visitors faced an early setback when England seamer James Anderson trapped opener Shan Masood in-front off the 14th ꦓball of the innings to leave Pakistan on 6/1.
YES JIMMY! 🙌
Live Scorecard & Clips:
— England Cricket (@englandcricket)
England pacers kept on bowling at good line and lengths, which caused the tourists a lot of trouble. Though, Abid Ali and Azhar Ali managed to survi🌄ve the swing and seam, helping Pakistan reach 65/1 at lunch.
Abid also got some help from England’s slip fielders who dropped him twice, while Pakistan captain was fortunate that the ball didn’t clip his bails even after hitting the stumps during the 12th over of the innings.
In the second session, Anders𓂃on got his 592nd wicket when he sent Azhar back to the pavilion. The Pakistani skipper after labouring hard for his 20 runs got out on peach of a delivery by handling a simple catch to second slip.
Leading from the front ! 💫
Scorecard/Clips:
— England Cricket (@englandcricket)
Meanwhile, Abid turned out to be Pakistan’s best batsman on the opening day as he reached his third Test half-century when play resumed after a lengthy rain delay.
FIFTY for 👏
— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB)
Still, Abid couldn’t carry on the momentum and failed to convert his fifty into a three-figure score as a Sam Curran delivery drew an outside edge which went straight to Rory Burns. Abid scored 60 runs off 111 balls.
Sam Curran doing Sam Curran things 🙌
Scorecard/Clips:
— England Cricket (@englandcricket)
As if the trouble wasn’t enough, Pakistan lost two more wickets in quick successions before the rain forced the match officials to call off the proceedings on Day 1.
During the 43rd over of Pakistan’s first innings, Stuart Broad also joined the party as he removed Asad Shafiq for 5 runs. Broad bowled a full delivery, and Shafiq followed it for a drive. The ball nipped away and carried an outside edge straight to fourth slip.
Bowlers dismissing Asad Shafiq most number of times in Tests:
- 9 – Rangana Herath
- 6 – Stuart Broad
- 5 – Mitchell Starc
- 5 – Vernon Philander
Then came Alam, who was dismissed for a duck on his return to Test cricket after 3910 days at Hampshire’s headquarters. The left-handed batsman with an extremely open stance was adjudged lbw after a review on all-rounder Chris Woakes’ bowling.
Three wickets in that hour after tea! 💪
Scorecard/Videos:
— England Cricket (@englandcricket)
At stumps, Pakistan reached 126/5 with Babar ✨Azam and Mohammad Rizwan not⛦ out on 25 and 4, respectively.
🏴 STUMPS 🇵🇰
England finish the day on top after claiming three 🉐late wickets 💪
Can Babar lead a fightback tomorrow morning?
— ICC (@ICC)
