- England and Pakistan will go to a decider next week in Rawalpindi
- England were outspun by the hosts in a 152-run defeat as Pakistan tied the series
- Â Ollie Pope’s form is a worry – but England should not lose hope in playing spin
There is no reason for England to press the panic button. When you are playing on a pitch that has been used for five days, the toss becomes absolutely vital – and it was a bad one for England to lose.
As you can see with the diminishing scores throughout the Test match, every innings it started to spin more and batting got harder.
But England won’t make excuses and they will still be disappointed. Pakistan’s spinners out bowled England’s spinners and Pakistan’s batters played spin better than England’s batters did.
The hosts may not get quite as extreme conditions as this in the deciding Test in Rawalpindi, which has historically been a flat pitch.
It was about as tough as it gets for England on what was effectively a day-nine pitch. But there is still plenty to work on in England’s batting department in these conditions.
England must remain calm and realise conditions will likely be less hostile moving forward
They were beaten by 152 runs by Pakistan as the hosts levelled the series in Multan
Ollie Pope needs to find consistency. His form is developing into a concern for England Â
The sweep shot is an absolute go-to in this part of the world, but you must not get too preoccupied with it. You still have to mix it up. Look at how Salman Ali Agha batted in Pakistan’s second innings. He did not play it every ball.
Pakistan’s spinners are very experienced and once they know what you are going to do every ball, they will vary their pace and their line and come back at you.
Of course, if the sweep is your shot, like it is with Ben Duckett, stick with it. You cannot criticise Duckett for getting out sweeping in the second innings after his century in the first. For him, a sweep is as good as a forward defence. The same goes for Ben Stokes. Look at how he played against Nathan Lyon in his great innings at Headingley in 2019, with a lot of sweeps and reverse sweeps.
But Stokes also hit Lyon down the ground that day and, just occasionally, that is what you have to do, like Brydon Carse did yesterday.
You can pop it over the top, nudge it into square leg for a single, or come down the pitch, although that is higher risk when the ball is turning big away from the bat, as Zak Crawley found out on the third evening when he was deceived by Noman.
When Crawley came forward like that, he was all in. But you can come and try to get across to it, so if it does deceive you, you can still try and kick it away. It was a high-risk shot by Crawley when Noman Ali is getting that much drop and turn.
In Noman and Sajid Khan, Pakistan have two very different spinners. Noman is like an old-fashioned left-arm spinner, who is slower and at times you can try and play him off the back foot. Sajid fires it in more and England tried to work out a plan by trying to sweep him off his line.
There are just some non-negotiables, like the two shots Ollie Pope played in both innings – driving against the turn and getting bowled through the gate, then chipping it back to the bowler.
The series will now be decided in Rawalpindi next weekÂ
England were left chasing 297 for victory but never came close to pulling it off
This was the pitch’s ninth day of use and Pakistan’s gamble on it paid off handsomely
I watched him net in the morning and it was full of sweeps and reverse sweeps. But he still jabs at the ball. Compare that with Joe Root, one of England’s greatest ever players of spin who has such a softness to his game and lets the ball come to him. Pope jabs at it and that’s dangerous when a pitch is gripping and turning.
His form is a concern for England. He continues to be a bit feast or famine. It was only two games ago he got a magnificent hundred at The Oval, but before that, he didn’t get many runs. Either side of his big scores, there are a lot of low scores, so he needs to find a consistency to his game.
Still, England must not get too down and start thinking, ‘We can’t play spin’. And there are still a lot of positives to come out of the game, particularly the way Carse bowled throughout and how Shoaib Bashir bowled in the second innings.
Test match cricket needed a week like this after 556 played 823 last week. It sets it up nicely for the decider in Rawalpindi.
