Pakistan vs England, 3rd Test: England spinners Leach and Ahmed steal the show on Day 1

Spin bowlers Jack Leach and Rehan Ahmed took six wickets between them, leading England to dismiss Pakistan for 304 on the first day of the third and final Test in Karachi.

Match Summary

Pakistan 304/10 (79 ov)

England *7/1 (3 ov)

Day Break : Day 1 England trail by 297 runs.

SCORECARD  

Leach took 4 wickets for 140 runs and Ahmed finished with 2 wickets for 89 runs, as Pakistan's batters squandered good starts after Babar Azam won the toss and chose to bat on a spinning pitch at the National Stadium.

However, England also struggled against spin bowling, with mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed dismissing Zak Crawley for a duck before the end of the day, leaving England at 7-1.

Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope were the batsmen on the crease for England, with scores of four and three respectively, as England trail Pakistan by 297 runs.

England currently leads the three-match series 2-0 after winning the first Test by 74 runs in Rawalpindi and the second Test in Multan by 26 runs.

Pakistan captain Babar Azam scored the most runs for the team, making 78 before being run out in the post-tea session. Agha Salman also scored 56 runs.

However, the start of the day belonged to Ahmed, who at 18 years and 126 days old became the youngest player to start a Test for England. He dismissed Saud Shakeel for 23 in his seventh over.

Before Ahmed, Brian Close held the record for being the youngest player to debut for England, at 18 years and 149 days old, when he played against New Zealand in 1949.

Leach also made an impact, breaking a resilient eighth wicket partnership of 48 between Salman and Nauman Ali (20).

During the morning session, Pakistan lost Abdullah Shafique (eight), Shan Masood (30), and Azhar Ali (40) before Babar Azam and Saud Shakeel steadied the innings with a 45-run fourth wicket partnership.

Ahmed had Shakeel caught at short-leg off a defensive shot, and Azam was judged to be run out by wicketkeeper Ben Foakes after a lengthy review.

Babar Azam, who hit nine boundaries, also put together a 71-run third wicket partnership with Azhar Ali.

Azhar Ali, who was playing in his final Test match, was dismissed just before lunch when he gloved a catch to a diving Ben Foakes off pacer Ollie Robinson.

Anticipating that the pitch would be conducive to spin bowling, England began their attack with Leach, who had Shafique leg-before in the sixth over of the day.

Leach becomes the first spinner to open the attack for England in a Test in 101 years; the last time this occurred was when Jack White did the same against Australia at Leeds in 1921.

Shan Masood fell victim to short-pitched bowling, pulling a fast ball from Mark Wood straight into the hands of deep fine-leg fielder Leach.

Shan Masood hit five boundaries, and Azhar Ali hit six during their respective innings.

In an effort to prevent their first-ever 3-0 whitewash at home, Pakistan made four changes to their lineup from the second Test, while England made two changes, bringing in Ben Foakes and Rehan Ahmed.

 

Match Stats

Pakistan Fall of wickets: 1-18 (Abdullah Shafique - 5.2 ov), 2-46 (Shan Masood - 12.3 ov), 3-117 (Azhar Ali - 25.2 ov), 4-162 (Saud Shakeel - 41.6 ov), 5-196 (Mohammad Rizwan - 48.6 ov), 6-219 (Babar Azam - 58.6 ov), 7-237 (Faheem Ashraf - 66.3 ov), 8-285 (Nauman Ali - 74.5 ov), 9-300 (Agha Salman - 78.3 ov), 10-304 (Abrar Ahmed - 78.6 ov)

England Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Zak Crawley - 0.5 ov)

Playing XIs

Pakistan:  Abdullah Shafique,Shan Masood, Azhar Ali, Babar Azam (C), Mohammad Rizwan (WK), Agha Salman, Saud Shakeel, Faheem Ashraf, Nauman Ali, Mohammad Wasim, Abrar Ahmed

England: Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Ben Stokes (C), Harry Brook, Ben Foakes (WK), Rehan Ahmed, Ollie Robinson, Mark Wood, Jack Leach

Match Details:

Date: Saturday, December 17, 2022 05:00

Venue: National Stadium, Karachi

Toss: Pakistan won the toss & elected to bat