PAK vs ENG 2024/25, PAK vs ENG 1st Test Match Report, October 07 – 11, 2024

In England 232 for 2 (Duckett 80*, Root 72*) route Pakistan 556 (Masood 151, Salman 104*, Shafique 102, Shakeel 82, Leach 3-160) by 324 runs

Joe Root went on to become England’s all-time Test run-scorer, while Ben Duckett eased an overnight concern with a thumb injury, as the pair added an unbeaten 119 for the third wicket. Between them, they continued where Zak Crawley had left off to drive England to 232 for 2 at lunch on the third day in Multan.

In a session that included an untroubled 136 runs in 25 overs, the undoubted highlight came 15 minutes early, when Root, aged 67, banked another compact drive for 4 to march to -12,473 runs, beating Sir Alastair. Cook is England’s most successful Test batsman, and fifth overall, behind only Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis and Rahul Dravid.

He added one more before the break, to take his tally to 72 not out – his 99th fifty-plus in Tests, and a great opportunity to celebrate his latest milestone with a 35th Test century and a fifth half in another superb year.

Meanwhile, Duckett’s participation in this innings was in some doubt as he left the field clutching his sore thumb after catching Pakistan’s last innings on the second night of the evening. But, after receiving treatment overnight, he came out of No.4 to move to the 45-ball stage, his fourth against Pakistan.

It was a torrid time for the Pakistanis, who suffered a setback towards the end of the session but got help from a pitch that showed no signs of wear and tear after nearly 200 overs.

Their success in the first hour was a batter’s fault. Crawley looked intimidating in the opening overs, especially in his trademark drives, but then he bounced a full length off Shaheen Shah Afridi and picked out Aamer Jamal at mid-on. Jamal’s second goal of the innings was no exception to the screamer he got out of Ollie Pope on night two, however. The ball went straight to him, and he just threw it away before picking it up for the second attempt.

Either way, Crawley departed with 78 from 85 balls – his sixth score between 60 and 80 this year – and at 113 for 2, Pakistan had a spark of an opening. Duckett, however, took it upon himself to close the window with an approximate slap to Abrar Ahmed.

Showing no ill effects from his thumb injury, Duckett climbed to his first boundary and then hit four more covers, hitting three fours in one over to bring up England’s 150. , Abrar withdrew from the attack with damaged figures of 9-0-68-0 – although he came back three overs better later on.

Duckett had one clear life on 37, when Naseem Shah got his outside edge only for the ball to split the keeper and slip wide of the first. Root, however, was his rare self as he settled into the accumulation rhythm that has been part of his form this summer. Although Pakistan worked hard, they suffered two revisions towards the end of the session, one for each batter, to strengthen their fight for the innings.