England recorded a breathtaking win in the first Test against Pakistan, with Jack Leach capping a record-breaking week in Multan on Wednesday morning.
The left-arm spinner took the last three wickets on the final day, with last man Abrar Ahmed unable to bat due to illness, securing one of the most surprising results of the ‘Bazball’ era.
history made
The final winning margin was 47 runs in an innings, an unthinkable proposition when Pakistan finished the second day with 556 runs conceded. No team in history has ever scored so many runs and gone on to lose without forcing the opponent to hit them twice.
Shocked at conceding a deficit of 267 runs, Pakistan lost a bunch of wickets on the fourth evening and were finally finished with 220 runs by Leach.
For a long time in Test cricket, this has been a truly strange outlier, with England ranking out against India in Hyderabad at the start of the year with an almost unbelievable turnaround.
The game started with Pakistan bowling out a tough 149 overs after winning the toss, but were overwhelmed by the scale of England’s ambition and the power of their batting line-up.
England responded with a mammoth 823 for 7 before Harry Brook’s triple century was the centerpiece of the innings, the fourth largest in Test history, and the bowlers did the rest.
jack rich
Pakistan resumed on the final day with minimal hopes and Ritchie stepped up to the front to deliver in style for the first time since January.
The left-armer, who confirmed his status as the starting spinner after losing it to Somerset team-mate Shoaib Bashir, took 4 after beating Salman Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah. 30 strokes, matches the number 7 in 190.
England were given an early encouragement when Salman fluttered a short ball from Chris Woakes and his mishit hit eluded the in-field catcher on the leg side.
He had 47 at the time and quickly reached his half-century, hitting Gus Atkinson for four. It didn’t take long for England to unlock their bouncer strategy as the pitch showed no obvious signs of deteriorating on the final day.
This meant a burst of attack from their fastest bowler, Brydon Carse, who soon hurried past Aamer Jamal with a short ball that struck the side of his helmet.
In Abrar’s absence, Pakistan could hardly afford to suffer further losses and after a lengthy concussion test, they were given the green light to proceed.
Finishing the victory
Carse continued to arch his back to dig in the ball and Jamal hammered his glove around the wicket only to see the ball loop over wicketkeeper Jamie Smith.
Woakes lacked the pace to cause the same problem and saw Jamal dispatch two of his bumpers for boundaries.
The drinks break resulted in another change of plans as Leach joined the fray. This time it took just four balls to perform the trick. The left-armer shaded one just past the inside edge of Salman and won the lbw verdict.
The all-rounder called for a review but England knew they had their man. Carse switched ends and had to have Jamal for a hard-fought 50, and Pope made good ground under a high catch that forced a fumble.
Pope will get great satisfaction from leading the team to a record-breaking week with his contributions, but he also struggled to provide an impact on the field with a two-ball duck.
The Pakistani tail had little desire to delay things and gave up and wavered as Leach singled them out. Afridi again whipped a drive into the ground but saw the bowler leap in front of the umpire and collect a smart diving catch while Naseem rushed the wicket and managed 16 before falling to Smith.
It took just 96 minutes to conclude the match and England won 1-0 in the three-match series.
Read more: Harry Brook breaks England’s record for free runs in his first Test and reaches 300
