The Times Sport - UK (2020-08-15)

Scoreboard

PAKISTAN First innings R B

Overnight: 126-

Babar Azam

c Buttler b Broad

Full, squared up, edge

47 127

†Mohammad Rizwan

not out

60 116

Yasir Shah

c Buttler b Anderson

Swung away, edged driving

5 16

Shaheen Shah Afridi

Run out (Sibley)

Non-striker’s end, sent back

0 19

Mohammad Abbas

lbw b Broad

Full and straight, plumb

2 20

Extras

(b 9, lb 11, nb 1, w 1)

22

TOTAL (86 overs; 9 wkts) 223

Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-78, 3-102, 4-117,

5-120, 6-158, 7-171, 8-176, 9-215.

Bowling: Anderson 24-5-48-3; Broad

25-7-56-3; S Curran 18-3-44-1; Woakes

19-3-55-1.

Umpires R Kettleborough and M

Gough (both Eng) TV umpire R

Illingworth (Eng) Match Referee C

Broad (Eng)

If there was one criticism of

England’s bowlers before lunch it was

that they erred towards a defensive

length, on the short rather than full

side. It was clear, when Broad took up

residence from the Pavilion End after-

wards, that he was determined to put

that right, and in the third over after the

break, he produced a beautiful leg cut-

ter to flick Babar’s outside edge. Babar

had looked in good fettle and it needed

something special to remove him.

Pakistan’s tail is a flimsy one. After

surviving a catch to slip that replays

suggested had been grounded, Yasir

Shah fell on the drive to Anderson;

Shaheen Shah Afridi, dawdling absent-

mindedly mid-pitch, was run out by

Dom Sibley, whose awareness and

increased sharpness and mobility was

in evidence at Emirates Old Trafford

and here again now, and eventually

Mohammad Abbas fell leg-before to

the second new ball after tea, but not

before England’s tactics had taken a

turn for the worse.

Until then, Rizwan fought the condi-

tions and his inclination to attack. He

benefited on 14 from a sharp chance put

down by Buttler off Broad, the wicket-

keeper diving to his left down the leg

side and going two-handed when one

might have allowed him greater reach.

Rizwan began to expand his game

eventually as England pitched shorter:

he upper-cut Broad to the fence, cun-

ningly, and the field began to spread.

When Broad, a 500-wicket bowler in

peachy conditions, did take the new

ball, he started with five men on or near

the boundary to Rizwan and soon

added to that number. It all became a

little ragged and Rizwan grew in confi-

dence. A simple question would be to

ask how England would have bowled at

Rizwan with Babar, or any other top-

flight batsman, for company, and the

answer is that they would have tried to

get him out rather than keep him off

strike. England are in a good position

after two days, but it could — and

should — have been better.

Chief Cricket

Correspondent

Bad light farce adds to

Mike

Atherton

England v Pakistan

How alert Sibley made

dozy Shaheen pay

Rizwan edged the ball wide of Dom Sibley at third slip. Shaheen set off for an

unlikely run, as Sibley ran round to pick up the ball and threw down the

stumps at the bowler’s end with Shaheen unable to make his ground

Sibley

Rizwan

Shaheen

Ageas Bowl (second day of five): Pakistan have

scored 223 for nine wickets against England

A curious state of affairs descended on

the Ageas Bowl either side of tea

yesterday. Adhering to the regulations,

as umpires must, bad light prevented

play, with Pakistan nine wickets down

and itching to utilise the helpful

bowling conditions. At the same time,

on the nursery ground next door, their

T20 players were enjoying a full-on

practice match. They did not have the

benefit of floodlights and yet seemed to

find conditions perfectly playable.

It is the regulations that are at fault,

not the umpires, who take a bad-light

reading and then are bound by it. Had

there been a crowd in the ground, they

would have found it inexplicable, with

players practising at full tilt on one side

with no lights, and the match,

benefiting from floodlights, interrupted

on the other. Greater leeway has to be

shown where possible to keep the show

on the road, especially in situations, like

yesterday, where the deterioration was

hardly obvious to the naked eye.

So it was another frustrating day of

Test cricket, with only 40.2 overs poss-

ible. It was a frustrating day for England

too, given that Pakistan managed to

scramble to a more challenging score

than looked possible when Babar

Azam, their best player, was dismissed

in the 64th over, with the score at 158

for six, and a tail to come that was

longer than a ship’s rat. It needed a com-

bination of a fighting half-century from

Mohammad Rizwan, the wicketkeeper,

and some odd tactics from England, to

allow Pakistan to reach 223 for nine.

Like so many in this squad, Rizwan is

a Pathan and hails from Peshawar in

the hardy northwest province of

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and so it is no

surprise that he looks to be the kind of

player that revels in a tight situation.

He has a game as neatly ordered as

his well-clipped beard, and

although he is new to Test cricket, he is

long on experience in the first-class

game, having made his debut a

dozen years ago. He av-

erages more than 40

at that level, with ten

hundreds to his

name, and he bats in

a straightforward,

functional way and

clearly enjoys the

challenge of mar-

shalling the tail.

Rizwan enjoyed

some of England’s tac-

tics too, in the period

either side of the

second new ball, when

he was encouraged in-

to a more attacking

mode as the bowlers

veered away from

the discipline that

had served them so

well.

For an hour

after lunch,

the seamers had bowled beautifully, full

of length and challenging the stumps,

and then, to try to keep Rizwan from

the strike, they began to bowl more er-

ratically, with the field spread. Notwith-

standing that bowling to a set batsman

with the tail can be tricky, this made lit-

tle sense.

As a result, it was a day of mixed

fortunes. Stuart Broad, the spokesman

at the end of play, agreed: no team can

be too disheartened in England’s posi-

tion, he said, while admitting that they

were disappointed not to have bowled

Pakistan out, and more cheaply. He

pointed to the missed chances and a

lack of ruthlessness with the ball, which

was on point.

Play was delayed by 90 minutes

because of morning rain, after which

James Anderson and Chris Woakes set

about utilising conditions that were

perfect for fast-medium swing and

seam bowlers. If anything, there was

too much movement on show. So

lavish was it in the air and off

the pitch that the ball beat

the bat frequently,

making Jos

Buttler

the

busiest

fielder in the opening skirmishes.

Buttler’s glovework was sound as

the ball wobbled, sometimes alarm-

ingly, on passing the bat, but the break-

through eluded England as Babar set-

tled.

A little like Virat Kohli on India’s last

tour of England, Babar put his ego

neatly to one side and played the con-

ditions. His signature shot is the

cover drive, but with significant

lateral movement that be-

comes an unduly risky op-

tion, so he

simply put it away and

asked the bowlers to bowl at

him. The tuck off the hip

may not be as eye-catching a

shot, but its risk-reward profile

is superior and it accompanied

him successfully through the

opening hour.

Babar looked well set yesterday

until an excellent leg cutter from

Broad flicked his outside edge

2 2GS Saturday August 15 2020 | the times

WEEKEND

BRIEFING

Rugby returns

Manu Tuilagi makes his

Sale Sharks debut but the

England centre can’t stop

Harlequins sealing victory on

the strangest of rugby nights

as the Gallagher Premiership

makes its comeback

PAGES 14-

Pirlo’s challenge

The former Juventus

midfielder was a left-field

choice as their new manager

and he will need more than

a feeling of destiny to

succeed in a demanding job,

says James Gheerbrant

PAGE 10

She is the perfect

cultural fit for us,

which is crucially

important in

building a

winning team

LIONESSES’ NEW BOSS, PAGE 11

Exeter’s Mr Tackle

Jonny Gray explains why he

swapped Glasgow Warriors

for the Chiefs, as the

Premiership title favourites

prepare to resume their

season against Leicester

Tigers this afternoon

PAGE 12

Vettel in a tailspin

With the Formula One

roadshow stopping in Spain

this weekend, Ferrari’s

four-times world champion is

struggling to be competetive

and has plenty to prove in

the twilight of his career

PAGE 16

Second Test: England v

Pakistan, day three

Sky Sports Cricket, 10.30am

Spanish Grand Prix qualifying

Sky Sports F1, 1pm

World Snooker

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BBC One, 1.15pm

Gallagher Premiership: Exeter

Chiefs v Leicester Tigers

BT Sport 1, 1.30pm

Gallagher Premiership: Bristol

Bears v Saracens

BT Sport 1, 4.15pm

Super League: Huddersfield v

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Sky Sports Arena, 6.30pm

Uefa Champions League:

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BT Sport 1, 7pm

On the box

Sport England v Pakistan: second Test