Pakistan vs England, 1st Test: England shine in fading light to win first Pakistan Test

England's James Anderson celebrates with his teammates after taking the wicket of Pakistan's Mohammad Rizwan

©REUTERS

Fast bowlers Ollie Robinson and James Anderson took four wickets apiece as England pulled off an exciting 74-run win over Pakistan Monday in the first Test in Rawalpindi.

Match Summary

Pakistan vs England, 1st Test, England tour of Pakistan

Pakistan 579/10 (155.3 ov) & 268/10 (96.3 ov)

England 657/10 (101 ov) & 264/7d (35.5 ov)

Result - England won by 74 runs.

Scorecard

The final wicket to fall.
Well played, @englandcricket#PAKvENG | #UKSePK pic.twitter.com/Rq3zFvPJSp

— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) December 5, 2022

Anderson took 4-36 and Robinson 4-50 on a placid Rawalpindi Stadium pitch to dismiss Pakistan for 268, with the stadium floodlights glowing as daylight faded.

Pakistan's last pair of Naseem Shah (six) and Mohammad Ali (nought) defied England for 35 minutes and 8.5 overs before spinner Jack Leach trapped Naseem leg-before, leaving England players ecstatic.

The win -- giving England a 1-0 lead in the three-Test series -- embellished England's newly adopted "Bazball" cricket, an aggressive style taken from the nickname of head coach Brendon McCullum.

Skipper Ben Stokes was also active throughout the day, keeping unrelenting pressure on the Pakistan batters with close-set fields and intelligent bowling changes.

The win is England's seventh in eight Tests under the new management of McCullum and Stokes, installed in May this year.

It was achieved after dangling the carrot-like target of 343 runs for Pakistan to win in a possible 130 overs.

For a while, they had their chance.

At tea, Pakistan were 257-5 -- needing 86 runs to win in an intriguing last session.

England needed five wickets, and Robinson struck in the fourth over after the break, trapping Agha Salman leg-before for 30.

In his next over he claimed Azhar Ali for 40 to bring England close to victory.

At the other end, Anderson removed Zahid Mahmood (one) and Haris Rauf (nought) in the same over as four wickets fell for just seven runs.

A total of 1,236 runs were scored by the two teams in their first innings -- England 657 and Pakistan 579 -- before the visitors set the Test alight by declaring their second innings at 264-7 on Sunday.

Pakistan batted with caution in the first session as they progressed from an overnight total of 80-2 to 169-3, losing opener Imam-ul-Haq for 48 to pacer Anderson.

Mohammad Rizwan was one of two wickets to fall in the second session for 46, putting a fighting 87-run stand for the fourth wicket with Saud Shakeel, who scored 76.

In the fourth over after lunch, Anderson had Rizwan caught behind while Robinson dismissed Shakeel to an excellent catch by substitute Keaton Jennings at short cover.

England are on their first Test tour of Pakistan since 2005, having declined to visit in the interim years on security grounds.

The second Test is in Multan from December 9 to 13, and the third in Karachi from December 17 to 21.

England Fall of wickets 1st innings: 1-233 (Ben Duckett - 35.4 ov), 2-235 (Zak Crawley - 36.5 ov), 3-286 (Joe Root - 45.6 ov), 4-462 (Ollie Pope - 70.5 ov), 5-515 (Ben Stokes - 75.6 ov), 6-539 (Liam Livingstone - 81.1 ov), 7-576 (Harry Brook - 83.4 ov), 8-641 (Will Jacks - 95.2 ov), 9-649 (Ollie Robinson - 98.2 ov), 10-657 (James Anderson - 100.6 ov)

Pakistan Fall of wickets 1st innings: Fall of wickets: 1-225 (Abdullah Shafique - 65.4 ov), 2-245 (Imam ul Haq - 70.1 ov), 3-290 (Azhar Ali - 80.5 ov), 4-413 (Saud Shakeel - 113.4 ov), 5-473 (Babar Azam - 126.1 ov), 6-475 (Mohammad Rizwan - 127.5 ov), 7-497 (Naseem Shah - 133.5 ov), 8-554 (Agha Salman - 147.4 ov), 9-576 (Zahid Mahmood - 153.5 ov), 10-579 (Haris Rauf - 155.3 ov)

Pakistan Fall of wickets 2nd innings: 1-20 (Abdullah Shafique - 4.1 ov), 2-25 (Babar Azam - 5.3 ov), 3-89 (Imam ul Haq - 25.3 ov), 4-176 (Mohammad Rizwan - 55.1 ov), 5-198 (Saud Shakeel - 61.2 ov), 6-259 (Agha Salman - 80.2 ov), 7-260 (Azhar Ali - 82.1 ov), 8-264 (Zahid Mahmood - 87.2 ov), 9-264 (Haris Rauf - 87.4 ov), 10-268 (Naseem Shah - 96.3 ov)

Playing XIs

PAKISTAN - Abdullah Shafique, Imam ul Haq, Azhar Ali, Babar Azam (C), Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan (WK), Agha Salman, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Ali-II, Zahid Mahmood

ENGLAND - Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope (WK), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (C), Liam Livingstone, Will Jacks, Ollie Robinson, Jack Leach, James Anderson

Match Details

Date - 2022-12-01 05:00 AM

Venue - Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi

Toss - England won the toss & elected to bat

Umpires - Ahsan Raza, Joel Wilson

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