England were in charge of the second Test against Pakistan at Multan on Saturday, leading by 281 on stumps on day two as they looked to win the series. The visitors were 202-5 in their second innings on a spinning pitch – in which 25 wickets fell in two days – with the solid Harry Brook 74 not out, joined by skipper Ben Stokes on 16. Earlier spinner Jack Leach won 4 for 98 when Pakistan was bowled out for 202, giving England a 79-run lead in the first innings and putting them in a strong position to win the Test series – their first in Pakistan for 17 years.
“I thought it was a pleasant day with 280 ahead so I’m looking forward to what tomorrow brings,” said Leach.
“We just hope to get as many as possible. We’d like 500 plus Brook and Stokes.’
In their second innings, England opener Ben Duckett hit an aggressive 79 before falling to spinner Abrar Ahmed, who took three wickets to add to his seven in the first innings. Will Jacks (four) and Joe Root (21) were his other victims.
Going 3-81 in the second innings to date, Ahmed has become the second Pakistani bowler to take 10 or more wickets on his debut, following Mohammad Zahid’s 11-130 against New Zealand in 1996.
Brook, hitting eight fours and a six, added 68 for the fourth wicket with Duckett.
Ahmed also had a part in Zak Crawley’s dismissal for three, leading him to go out at halftime with a direct hit when the batter attempted a quick single.
‘Soft layoffs’
In the morning session, the Pakistan batters lost a strong position after resuming at 107-2 with skipper Babar Azam and Shakeel looking to build a solid lead.
But once Azam was bowled by fast bowler Ollie Robinson for 75 in the seventh over of the day, the innings collapsed with seven wickets falling for just 37 runs.
“There were some soft layoffs and that pushed us back,” said Shakeel.
“We need to get them out for a 300-320 lead and as there’s plenty of time there will be a result. We’ve chased such totals before.”
Along with Leach, Root also found success with his repeated off-breaks, sending off Agha Salman (four) and Mohammad Ali (zero).
With an extended lunch before the last wicket, Faheem Ashraf (22) and Ahmed (seven not out) held on for 23 runs before Mark Wood broke the partnership.
Root had numbers of 2-23 and Wood 2-40.
Azam hit ten boundaries and a six and added 91 for the third wicket with Shakeel.
Leach lured Shakeel into playing a high shot towards halfway where James Anderson held a clever running catch giving the spinner his 100th test wicket.
England won the First Test by 74 runs at Rawalpindi.
(This story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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