PAK vs. ENG 2024/25, PAK vs. ENG 1st test match report, October 7th – 11th, 2024

England 96 for 1 (Crawley 64*, Root 32*) Trail Pakistan 556 (Masood 151, Salman 104*, Shafique 102, Shakeel 82, Leach 3-160) for 460 runs

The riposte, as so often happens, came from Crawley, back in the side after missing the Sri Lanka series with a broken finger. He hit his sixth ball, off Shaheen Afridi, to the boundary and did the same to Naseem in the following over before defeating Afridi for a brace of fours to end the seamer’s opening spell. That led to the early introduction of spin – and another statement of intent from Crawley as Abrar’s first over ended for 11.

Crawley scored England’s 50 in the 11th over by sending Abrar through the leg side and he continued to attack Pakistan’s legspinner, who took 11 wickets as a debutant against England on the same ground two years ago. Two more fours on the ground left Abrar with an opening tally of 4-0-31-0 before a ninth boundary clipped through midwicket by Naseem took Crawley to a 55-ball half-century.

England prevailed by two wickets in each session, but Shakeel and Salman ensured that Pakistan did not squander the solid foundation provided by Shan Masood and Abdullah Shafique’s centuries on the first day. The innings was rocky, but Salman’s clever attack on England’s spinners in particular helped keep the hosts’ momentum going.

Salman remained scoreless at lunchtime but hit the first ball after the break through cover for four – taking Pakistan to 400 and signaling his own intentions. He came down the stretch in the same over, hitting Leach long-off and was clearly in the mood to get the scoreboard ticking after Pakistan had added just 69 runs over the course of the morning.

His battle with Leach provided a riveting spectacle as England’s most experienced spinner hit four fours and two sixes in a four-over game. But it almost went wrong for Salman, as the first of his sixes came dangerously close to getting him sent off: Chris Woakes thought he had done a good job as he backed away towards long-off and threw the ball up as it went out Then return and complete the catch. But after much deliberation and various replay angles, the third umpire, Chris Gaffaney, concluded that Woakes’ foot touched the ground outside the rope when he won the ball a second time.

Even during his first partnership with Naseem, Shakeel had been content to play second fiddle. He combined with Salman for another fifty stand but was undone by a sharp turn from Shoaib Bashir – a rare unplayable ball during what has so far been a difficult game for the 20-year-old. As Bashir drifted around the wicket and into leg stump, he found purchase and then the outside edge, the ball bouncing off the back leg of Shakeel to Root at slip.

Jamal fell favorably against Carse, but along with Afridi, this was the occasion for Salman to pop up at another counter. After advancing to his fifty from 71 balls, he swept Bashir backwards and then brought him down before adding another brace of fours off Leach, followed by a single to reach 500. In between, Pope added another burnt review pile with an LBW appeal that was proven to have pitched outside leg.

Pakistan were 515 for 8 at tea, with Salman playing alertly before hitting Leach over long-on to reach the 90 mark. He reached his hundred with a swept single after scoring 59 from a ninth wicket stand worth 85. At this point, Afridi missed a slog at Leach to be bowled.

England seemed a little exhausted and the problems began early in the morning against the unusual batting power of Naseem, who made his highest score in any format of the game with 33 from 81 balls and sustained a persistent attack until the end of 90 minutes. His efforts, which included hitting three sixes during a stand of 64 alongside Shakeel, ensured there would be no quick route back into the game for the tourists.

With the ball only five overs old, England hoped to move into the lower middle order but found Naseem in an imaginative – and mischievous – mood. He refused to be intimidated after Atkinson hit him on the helmet and went for Bashir and then Leach, the third of his sixes an audacious inside-out strike over extra cover. The stand reached a score of 50 and Naseem outperformed his senior partner when he eventually became Carse’s first Test wicket, succumbing to a barrage around the wicket via an edge-to-leg slip.