England’s Dominant Batting and Jack Leach’s 4-Wicket Haul Sink Pakistan
Pakistan started the final day with Salman Ali Agha (41*) and Aamir Jamal (27*) on the crease with the scoreboard reading 152-6.
With the hosts trailing by 115 runs, both batters added 39 runs in the morning session before Jack Leach removed Salman, who scored 63 runs from 84 balls with the help of seven boundaries.
Aamir Jamal played a patient knock of 55 runs from 104 balls before Leach removed Shaheen Afridi (10) and Naseem Shah (6) in the same over to wrap Pakistan’s innings at 220 runs. Meanwhile, Abrar Ahmed did not take the field on the fourth and fifth day.
Leach led England’s bowling attack with bowling figures of 4-30, while Gus Atkinson and debutant Brydon Carse bagged two wickets each.
Pakistan had a dismal start to their second innings as right-handed opener Abdullah Shafique fell for a duck on the second delivery of the first over.
His dismissal jolted Pakistan’s batting unit, which accumulated 556 runs in the first innings, and England made successive strikes to reduce them to 82/6, trailing a further 185.
Salman Ali Agha and Aamir Jamal offered fightback in the dying minutes of the fourth day with a gritty 70-run partnership.
England had declared their first innings after amassing a mammoth 823/7 with a lead of 267 runs. Chris Woakes and Brydon Carse were playing at 17 and 9 respectively when the captain called them back.
England batters frustrated Pakistan bowlers with a dominant batting display on the morning of the fourth day as they racked up 166 runs without any loss, pushing the team’s total to 658-3 in the first session on Day 4.
Joe Root fell early in the second session, getting lbw off Salman Ali Agha after playing a monumental knock of 262 runs from 375 balls, which featured 17 fours.
Jamie Smith joined Harry Brook and they switched gears, constructing a partnership of 75 runs from only 49 balls.
Brook completed his maiden triple-hundred during the partnership with a four off Saim Ayub, reaching the milestone in style. He took 310 balls to reach the milestone and became the sixth English player to do so.
Naseem Shah removed Smith after he played a 31-run knock from 24 balls with two fours and one six.
Saim Ayub got the prized scalp of Brook a few overs later, ending his historic knock at 317. Brook struck 32 boundaries, including three sixes during his 322-ball innings.
Gus Atkinson also fell prey to Saim in the same over before Chris Woakes and Brydon Carse added 24 runs to push the team’s total to 823-7.
For Pakistan, Saim and Naseem picked two wickets, while Shaheen Shah Afridi, Aamir Jamal and Salman Ali Agha bagged one each.
