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Good morning! It’s hot, it’s dry and it’s day three in Multan, where Pakistan piled up 556 to a largely empty stadium, England sweated, dropped a couple of catches, Chris Woakes’ big boot caught on the boundary rope and Ben Duckett dislocated his thumb.
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Salman Agha’s hundred from No. 8 frustrated England, but not as much as Duckett’s dodgy digit, which left Ollie Pope to open with sub-optimal results. Crawley and Root though smoothed the troubled waters with an unbroken stand of 92 at a fair lick.
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So now we get to see whether the pitch stays as flat and crushingly unfriendly for bowlers as it was for the first two days, or whether the cracks have yawned and stretched to add a little spice . Play starts at 6amBST, do keep us company.
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major events
9 overs: England 112-1 (Crawley 77, Root 34) Crawley sped towards triple digits here, with 4 digits narrowing the slip.
“Given the apparent lack of interest in this from a Pakistani spectator point of view and the prevalence of white-ball cricket, it seems a little ridiculous that Pakistan had such a flat wicket. “It seems to me,” wrote Thomas Whittaker. “Given modern playing styles and the need to attract spectators, wouldn't a more bowler-friendly wicket make sense??” They risked further testing their slightly fragile batting line-up. I'm sure you didn't want to expose it, but I'd love to hear from locals reading it.
8 overs: England 107-1 (Crawley 72, Root 34) Abrar Ahmed spins with nice glasses. England found themselves in trouble six times from an over, and also had one no-ball.
“Awake…and stare into the abyss!!” Hello, I'm Arnab Banerjee.
“…but every once in a while I try to take a break from my day job and work as an extra, and this morning I’m off to a fitting somewhere near Old Street in London! Then it’s back to the Tests and Wotld T20 and the Harman team staring into the abyss too!”
That's interesting!
7 overs: England 100-1 (Crawley 68, Root 32) Shaheen Shah Afridi with the (almost) new ball. Crawley pulls away but can't reach it and it goes past the stumps for a false start. The first real ball comes off the stumps and barely bounces above ankle height. Then Crowley extends a long lever and leans into the four-seater peach-like cover drive.
the players have left…. Let's go!
Joe Root needs 38 He was just a few innings away from overtaking Alastair Cook to become the highest-scoring Englishman in Tests, and just a few more before overtaking Sachin Tendulkar.
With only 10 minutes left until the start, Time to make a quick cup of tea. If you're waking up staring into the dark, drop us a message at tanya.aldred.freelance@guardian.co.uk. According to Athers, the pitch is still full of conceded goals.
simon burnton
The vision screen is a strange feature of this ground. There are large screens at each end that display a series of advertisements for sponsors, but the whitest white that sponsors can muster is not so white that it acts as a viewing screen whenever a bowler runs in from the edge and the sheet is pulled . It uses an ingenious pulley system and requires four people on each end. Three people pull the pulley, another person judges the timing of the pull, and a fifth person hangs more sheets on the perimeter fence. Looks like a very laborious solution, but it works
Duckett is fit
simon burnton
“Ben Duckett can say that.” He's playing Pig, the team's morning keep game, and there's no sign of him strapping his left hand on, so that's a positive, right? And officially he's off the dribble right now — he's good to go. is”
and good news From Simon Burnton on the scene…
some pretty skies From Multan last night:
A stunning visual of the pink sky at the end of the second day taken from Multan during the Pakistan vs England Test. #Pakben pic.twitter.com/WfbSRfBRJD
— Ameer Hamza Asif (@AmeerHamzaAsif) October 8, 2024
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Currently, the temperature in Multan is 29 degrees Celsius, feels like 31 degrees Celsius, and the air quality is “unhealthy”. The US AQI is 170, or 16 times the WHO recommended level.
preamble
good morning! It's hot and dry and it's the third day in Multan. Pakistan piled up $556 in an almost empty stadium, England sweated and dropped a few catches, Chris Woakes' big boot got caught on the boundary rope and Ben Duckett dislocated his thumb.
No. 8 Salman Agha's hundred frustrated England, but not as much as Duckett's dangerous numbers, with Ollie Pope set to open the game with a second-best result. However, Crowley and Root smoothed out the difficult situation with an unbroken stand of 92 with a considerable lick.
Now we can see if the pitch remains as flat and horribly unfriendly to bowlers as it was the first two days, or if the cracks yawn and stretch to add a bit of spice. Ta. The match starts at 6am (BST). Please join us.
