England’s Durham trio showed heart and guile on a pitch that spun and kept low – and one bowled like Freddie Flintoff in his prime, writes NASSER HUSSAIN

I thought England’s seamers were excellent on the first day of the second Test. The match is being played on what is effectively a day six pitch. What you gain from that is more turn, but what you lose is pace and bounce.

So what was a difficult job for England seamers to get it through in the first Test, was even more difficult here. The ball was bouncing ankle height.

But on days like this when it is pee rolling through to the keeper, what I always look for is: have you got a big ticker? Well, the three Durham lads of Matthew Potts, Brydon Carse and Ben Stokes showed a lot of heart. They were excellent at trying to get something out of a completely lifeless surface and they put in a real shift.

I have always been impressed with Potts as a workhorse. He reminds me a bit of Matthew Hoggard. He is quicker than Hoggard and a different type of bowler, but he is built like him. He has got a good strong backside, for want of a better phrase, and strong shoulders.

Potts looks like someone who will always do the hard yards for you. Playing in his first Test overseas, he was unlucky not to close the day with two wickets, when England failed to review after Mohammad Rizwan nicked behind to Jamie Smith. Potts was the only player to really appeal.

The first day of the second test in Multan was played on what is effectively a day six pitch

Matthew Potts was excellent on a surface that offered very little to the England seamers

The only area Potts has to work on – and he knows this – is bowling around the wicket to left handers with either orthodox or reverse swing.

Yesterday, he struggled against Pakistan’s left handers from that angle. His alignment around the wicket is not quite like that of Stuart Broad, who was so effective bowling around the wicket at David Warner.

You think back as well to how Andrew Flintoff bowled at Adam Gilchrist at Edgbaston in 2005. In the end, it was Potts’ county colleague Carse who came on and bowled like Flintoff to dismiss Saud Shakeel.

One big asset England had yesterday which they did not have in the first Test was reverse swing – and Stokes is a master at managing his bowlers when it reverses.

He deliberately did not bowl his seamers much in the first session when it was gun barrel straight. But the moment it started reversing an hour before tea, he brought them on and they were outstanding.

The conditions are the complete opposite to what we have in England, when the new Dukes ball does everything for the seamer, then when the ball gets older, your spinner has more of a role.

Here, the hard Kookaburra ball got turn and bounce for Jack Leach early on, then reversed later for the seamers. It is why you have to think outside the box as a captain, which is where Stokes is so good.

I also thought Smith was superb behind the stumps yesterday. It was his best display of wicketkeeping in an England shirt.

Brydon Carse (left) showed shades of Andrew Flintoff when he dismissed Saud Shakeel

Wicketkeeper Jamie Smith delivered his best display in an England shirt behind the stumps

When he was selected during the summer, there were a few people who weren’t sure about his keeping. He is following on from Ben Foakes and if you make mistakes, everyone is going to say, ‘Why have they left out Foakes, the best keeper in the world?’

But on a Multan pitch that spun and kept low, Smith was quite brilliant. It was an incredibly Foakes-like display.

His catch to dismiss Shakeel off Carse was magnificent. He was standing three yards closer than he would normally because everything was dying in front of him, but Shakeel’s edge flew through to him. It was an exhibition of wicketkeeping.