England vs Pakistan Second Test: Day 1 belonged to the hosts and their pacemakers as they chose 5 wickets for 126 runs amid three rain stops, ultimately forcing the referees to call for early stumps in Southampton on Thursday.
HIGHLIGHT
- Pakistan dropped to 126-for-5 in 45.4 overs by England pacers
- Abid Ali scored a maximum with 60, while Babar Azam is not out with 25 for the visitors
- James Anderson bagged 2 wickets while Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes and Sam Curran
Pakistan fell to 126-5 before a third rain stop ended the game on the first day of Test 2 against England at the Rose Bowl on Thursday.
Abid Ali scored 60, having been knocked down twice at the beginning of his 111-ball innings, and was comfortably Pakistan’s top scorer on a tough day for tourists with the changing weather.
Jimmy Anderson was retained for the match, despite struggling in England’s win by three wickets in Test 1 in Manchester last week, and the pacemaker restored that faith by eliminating Shan Masood (1) in the third and the Captain Azhar Ali (20) after lunch. It gave England record land grabbing figures of 2-35 and is up to 592 in testing.
After the draw, won by Pakistan, was held under sunny skies, Pakistan began batting in cloudy conditions and rain brought an early lunch. More rain came midway through the second session, which the tourists finished 85-2.
And it was only possible about an hour after tea, when Pakistan lost three wickets, including Abid, who edged closer named Sam Curran to Rory Burns in the second slip. Burns had been the second sliding fielder to knock Abid down before lunch, the right-hander had already taken life at 0 for Dom Sibley’s fall to his left on the third slip.
As with Burns, Sibley made amends by taking a smart sack in the bottom half to eliminate Asad Shafiq (5) and give Stuart Broad his first wicket.
That led Fawad Alam to the fold for his first test innings in 11 years after being retired, and they lasted four balls when the southpaw was caught lbw by Chris Woakes for a duck. A no-out decision was made, but England checked and Hawk-Eye showed the ball was hitting the top of the middle stump.
Babar Azam was not 25 years old when bad light finally caused them to be called stumps. Mohammad Rizwan was at 4.
Pakistan is 1-0 in the three-game series. Another England win will secure a first test series against Pakistan in 10 years, and a second series this pandemic-stricken summer after they have beaten the West Indies.
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