Pakistan vs England: third men's cricket test, day two – live | Pakistan vs England 2024

It's a long morning sessiontwo and a half hours, the players take their first drinks break.

WICKET ELSEWHERE! India 103-7 (Ashwin LBW to Santner 4) Can't speak.

38th over: Pakistan 105-4 (Saud 34, Rizwan 2) Stokes must be really tempted to give Atkinson a few overs before Rizwan calms down. He is much better against spin and had a great time against Brydon Carse in the first two tests.

On the other hand, the ball is good, especially for Bashir. He beats Saud with another lovely delivery that dips and grabs. In the meantime…

Watch: Bashir catches Shan with a beauty

37th over: Pakistan 102-4 (Saud 32, Rizwan 2) A reverse sweep from Saud is expected and then stopped by the jumping Stokes, a magnificent field game. One run can make the difference.

Saud gets it past Stokes later in the over to bring up Pakistan's hundred. Rizwan plays a defensive shot and then waves to the sky, possibly because the drone camera was too close. He misses by sweeping Leach for two; England won't mind if he plays that shot.

“Dude,” says Ben Bernards, “can you stop trying to jinx us (New Zealand) and start an Indian revival?”

I'm just here for the Freudian slips. Sounds like India took terrible shots today.

36th over: Pakistan 99-4 (Saud 32, Rizwan 0) The arrival of Mohammad Rizwan means a left-right combination for Pakistan. One would expect him to be much busier, trying to put pressure on England again.

WICKET ELSEWHERE! India 95-6 (Sarfaraz v O'Rourke v Santner 11) The scene of all scenes in Pune: India are still 164 points behind Bunsen and know that a defeat will mean their first defeat in a home series in 12 years.

WICKET! Pakistan 99-4 (Shan c Pope b Bashir 26)

35th over: Pakistan 99-3 (Shan 26, Saud 32) Leach has a few slightly better LBW shouts against Shakeel. Still not out though; It will be very difficult for him to get LBWs from over the wicket as the ball spins so much.

“New Zealand continues to surprise after the women became T20 World Champions on Sunday, Rob,” says Simon McMahon. “Population 5 million. I still get misty-eyed when I think of the incredible dignity and generosity they showed after the most heartbreaking defeat to England at Lord's in 2019.”

34th over: Pakistan 99-3 (Shan 26, Saud 32) A low-risk single brings an excellent result fifty partnership consists largely of low-risk singles. Five runs from Bashir's over, three singles and a two. England needs… something.

33rd over: Pakistan 94-3 (Shan 23, Saud 30) There is an argument – there are some – that England did really badly before lunch yesterday and that with some judicious effort and a good straight shot, Pakistan can gain a decisive lead in the first innings. Oh, who knows. The only certainty is that Pakistan are 173 runs behind.

Freudian slip of the day

32nd over: Pakistan 92-3 (Shan 22, Saud 29) Bashir does it for the first time in a row, and although England didn't take a wicket, they are at least in control of the scoreboard: there were just 19 runs in nine overs this morning.

WICKET ELSEWHERE! India 83-5 (Pants b Phillips 18)

Look, we can't ignore this. New Zealand could be on their way to their first win in history against India, who find themselves in a difficult situation that will only get worse.

31st over: Pakistan 92-3 (Shan 22, Saud 29) Leach, back over the wicket, has a hopeful LBW appeal against Shan, which was rejected by umpire Sharfudduola. It was outside the line and there may have been an inside edge. Other than that, it was spot on.

It is also an important day for Sharfudduola, who made some strange howls in the last session yesterday. Both have been corrected by DRS, but it will certainly be on his mind.

30th over: Pakistan 92-3 (Shan 21, Saud 30) Bashir beats Shan with a near-perfect throw that hits the middle and growls beyond the edge. He was England's biggest threat in the first 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, this is one of the reasons Gus Atkinson is needed today.

29th round: Pakistan 90-3 (Shan 21, Saud 28) It didn't take long for Leach to move around the wicket to the left-hander, an angle that has given him much pleasure in this series. But Pakistan are playing it well this morning, playing exclusively defensive shots and low-risk individual shots.

28th over: Pakistan 87-3 (Shan 20, Saud 27) Saud was dropped by Smith before Bashir. This could be a big moment. It was a difficult chance, a big deflection off the leading edge that hit Smith on the shin pad. Risk and reward department: Ben Foakes couldn't have played that great innings yesterday, but he probably would have taken the chance.

Thanks to Russ Whedon for sending the TMS overseas link. “This series has definitely exceeded expectations on Bazball's 'Entertainment First' scale, hasn't it?” says Russ.

It certainly has. The development will be complete next winter when Stokes announces before the first Ashes Test that he can't worry about entertaining or saving Test cricket, but just wants to bring the urn home.

27th over: Pakistan 82-3 (Shan 18, Saud 23) Um, folks, something historic could be happening in Pune.

26th over: Pakistan 81-3 (Shan 18, Saud 22) Saud does Bashir very well for four. He's a real threat for England today, an outstanding player of spin, and I half expected Gus Atkinson to start alongside Leach for that reason.

Shan is less comfortable against Bashir and lags behind Stokes at slip. He pushed with a hard hand and the ball still landed way short.

“While waiting for the game to start, I read Walter Isaacson's wonderful biography of Steve Jobs,” writes Kim Thonger. “Jobs had a habit of creating a reality distortion field around himself, twisting the truth just enough to win every argument. This seems to me to be the same approach that really good spin bowlers take. The batsman is never quite sure what is real and what is trickery. There is no mention yet of Jobs lining up for the Cupertino team on Sundays, but perhaps Walter will keep it up his sleeve for the final chapters.”

The old master zookeeper, Shane Warne, was so good at it. There is a brilliant passage in Kevin Pietersen's book On Cricket about how Warne dominated both the batters and the umpires.

25th over: Pakistan 76-3 (Shan 18, Saud 17) The only advantage of batting second on a worn pitch is that you can learn from the opponent's first innings. England lost five wickets before realizing that the sweep was a risky shot on such a slow, low pitch, and since then batters on both sides have generally played with a straight bat.

Jack Leach's first game is a quiet, exploratory affair; two singles from it.

24th over: Pakistan 74-3 (Shan 17, Saud 16) A fine start from Bashir, whose first ball curves onto middle stump and stands up sharply. Shan does a pretty good job of landing a big edge just in front of Pope, who is close and under the helmet at the gully.

Later in the over, Shan gets another strong edge, this time all over the ground. He's definitely a candidate for an advantage when playing against spin.

The players are ready for action in Rawalpindi. Also, Virat Kohli was just bowled by a full and India are in a bit of trouble against New Zealand in Pune. If New Zealand wins the second Test, they would be the first team to win a series in India since England 12 years ago.

Here, did you hear that? It might be one of the greatest debut singles in history ever.

“While you relax and prepare for the new day“An interesting Western Australian innings has just unfolded in the Australian one-day competition,” says Phil Withall. “Somehow they managed to lose eight wickets in one run and were bowled out for just 53. Spectacular performance, I’m sure you’ll agree…”

Great! I completely missed that. It reminds me a little of Surrey's astonishing collapse against Lancashire in 1993, which in some ways was even worse because they were so close to victory.

Continue reading Ali Martin Adam Gilchr Jamie Smith

Over the course of his brilliant 89s, he once again showed the class and composure that mark him as a promising player. Smith fell victim to some rash yahoos in the second Test and was content to take a look first. He soaked up nine runs off 32 balls, playing primarily with a straight bat. Unlike some of his colleagues higher up, the 24-year-old seemed to trust his defense.

Scorecard fans, this is for you

Read Simon Burnton's report on day one

From the sport that once gave you leg theory, this was more like chaos theory. Before this week, no one knew what you would get if you roasted the field in a makeshift convection oven before a game. It turns out the answer is wickets, 13 of which fell on an opening day full of drama and frequent confusion.

preamble