Ben Duckett takes steady route to dominance after bowling breakthroughs

England 281 (Duckett 63, Pope 60, Abrar 7-114) and 89 for 3 (Duckett 58*, Brook 3*) lead Pakistan 202 (Babar 75, Shakeel 63, Leach 4-98) by 168 runs

Despite pressing along at a purposeful rate of 3.63 an over, faster than Pakistan’s overall rate for the series, England’s progress was still significantly more watchful than their first-day 281 had been, with the early run-out of Zak Crawley and another first-over wicket for Abrar persuading them to take a more old-school approach to their accumulation.

That perhaps hadn’t been England’s initial plan, however, given Duckett’s promise at the close of the first day that they “wouldn’t be blocking” when they encountered Abrar second-time around. But the spinner’s first act of the second innings came in the field, as he swooped brilliantly at mid-on and calmly under-armed into the non-striker’s stumps as Crawley – perhaps frustrated by a packed off-side field that had restricted his favoured drive – took on a risky quick single and lost.

Out strode Will Jacks at No. 3 – a position in which he had never before batted in first-class cricket, and further evidence of this England team’s determination to do things differently. Watching on from the Sky Sports studio, Stuart Broad speculated that “Lumberjacks” had been promoted to “chop down” the attack, but the ploy didn’t quite pay off. As Abrar entered the attack for the seventh over, he took his match tally to eight wickets with sixth ball of the innings, as Jacks climbed into a slog-sweep and had his stumps rearranged.

At 25 for 2, England were in slight danger of throwing away their morning dominance, but Root’s arrival at No. 4 signalled a reversion to more traditional tactics in spinning conditions – watchful strike rotation and calm partnership building, as he and Duckett carried their third-wicket stand to 54 from 80 balls.

It took a stunning piece of reaction fielding at short leg from Abdullah Shafique to prise Root from the crease, as he tracked his positioning for a pre-meditated sweep, then grasped the chance straight off the face of the bat in his outstretched left hand, inches from the ground. But it would be the final breakthrough of the session, as Harry Brook bedded in to tea on 3.

The relative lack of urgency reflected England’s comfortable dominance of the match situation, having ripped through Pakistan’s first innings to claim their remaining eight wickets for 95 in the morning session, including a pre-lunch flurry of three for none in six balls.

Shakeel followed soon afterwards for 63, handing Jack Leach his 100th Test wicket in the process, and when Pakistan’s other kingpin, Mohammad Rizwan also fell to Leach for 10 – having taken 28 deliveries to open his account in a deeply cagey display – the lower middle-order fell away, with Root’s lesser-spotted offspin claiming two wickets in his first five balls of the day.

Robinson, the Player of the Match from last week’s Rawalpindi victory, had been a notable absentee from England’s attack on the first day, but made his presence felt from the moment he entered the fray in the 35th over of the innings. Reverse-swing had been a feature of his match-winning spell in the first Test, and sure enough, his second delivery bent back appreciably as Babar leaned into an ill-conceived drive, and crashed into the middle and off stumps.

It was a hammer blow to Pakistan’s hopes of converting their overnight 107 for 2 into a dominant position, and Rizwan’s response to the setback was an innings of deep retrenchment. At the other end, Shakeel at least converted his overnight 32 into a 65-ball half-century, his second in three innings in his fledgling Test career, but with England drying up the runs, his eventual dismissal was an aberration that opened the floodgates.

A fine drive through long-off off Leach seemed to have signalled an upping of Shakeel’s tempo, but it gave way, one ball later, to an awful hoick through the line, as Anderson at mid-on rushed round to his left to cling onto an skewed outside edge. And two overs later, Rizwan was gone as well, beaten by a dipping ripper from Leach that turned and bounced into the top of middle and off from round the wicket. At 165 for 5, the innings was suddenly in freefall.

In theory, the recall of Mohammad Nawaz had added some substance to Pakistan’s lower-middle order. In practice, his response to the mounting crisis was an impetuous skip to the pitch and a scuffed drive to Robinson at mid-off to give Leach his fourth of the innings.

By this stage, Pakistan’s innings had lasted more balls than England’s first-innings total of 281 all out in 51.4 overs, but the lack of intent in their approach had created a level of pressure over and above anything England had felt, even while wickets were falling with greater frequency in their innings.

One delivery later, Root returned to the attack with instant success, as Agha Salman popped a gently looping offbreak straight to Ben Stokes at short mid-on, and Root had two in five balls when Mohammad Ali snicked to Crawley at slip, the chance looping off his back pad as he pressed forward with no conviction.

At 169 for 8 and with lunch approaching, Stokes was in no mood to let up the pressure. Back came Wood for what could have been the final over of the session, and with his very first ball, Zahid Mahmood was smashed on the pad and sent on his way lbw for the third duck of the innings. Abrar then hung around with Faheem Ashraf for a last-wicket stand of 23, but Wood’s return to the attack induced an airy flick to deep midwicket from Ashraf, to wrap up a session that might yet have set up England’s series.