103rd over: Pakistan 309-7 (Jamal 17, Sajid 2) Jamal takes a rare short ball from Potts and hits it down the leg side for pair. After fending off a few deliveries in a row, he hits two more through extra cover. Drinks.

“The tail is wagging and when you see the Durham boys dancing around, you have to wonder if Pakistan brought the wrong tools,” writes Zain Malik. “Jamal is about to swap his bat for the ball and unless he does a Houdini with both, Pakistan may need more than a miracle to pull this off.”

102nd over: Pakistan 304-7 (Jamal 13, Sajid 1) New batsman Sajid Khan beats Leach on the bounce and slips. His first-class record isn't bad; he has a century and an average of 18 years.

101st over: Pakistan 302-7 (Jamal 12, Sajid 0) When he first played Test cricket, it looked as if Potts would only really thrive in English conditions. But he was a revelation on the A tour of India earlier this year and bowled brilliantly in that game: 20-6-52-2. He is a serious contender for next winter's Ashes.

WICKET! Pakistan 302-7 (Salman c Smith b Potts 31)

100th over: Pakistan 294-6 (Salman 23, Jamal 12) Two from Leach. England need to find a way to get rid of Salman Agha, who bats professionally and has a series average of 190.

99th over: Pakistan 292-6 (Salman 22, Jamal 11) After conceding 19 in the first 15 overs of the innings, his 16th went for 16.

It started promisingly when Jamal attempted an uppercut and was punched. He then hurled Carse back over his head four times, an unconvincing shot that elicited a few words from the bowler.

His partner Salman continued to play Carse with impressive ease, opening the face to drive a boundary beyond the short third. Carse growled in frustration – so Salman did it again.

Maybe a fifth of the morning was one too many for Carse.

98th over: Pakistan 276-6 (Salman 12, Jamal 6) Close! Jamal, caught off guard by a ball that stops in the pitch, hits Leach straight between the two tight catchers on the offside, Crawley as extra cover and Root as short midfielder.

England did well this morning: eight overs, 17 runs, one wicket.

About Carse's characters being stolen from Curtly AmbroseJust check out some of these performances.

• 11-6-8-3

• 26-16-23-3

• 31-8-38-2

• 18-9-25-7

• 22-11-22-1

• 29-14-36-0

• 10-5-5-1

And the last one was in a one-day international.

97th over: Pakistan 275-6 (Salman 12, Jamal 5) Do you want to feel old here? Well, Brydon Carse was born the day after Dominic Cork's hat-trick against West Indies in 1995.

He doesn't get any sideways movement, but continues to roll straight ahead to maximize the extra bounce. Just two singles from above. Salman looked very solid against Carse, which isn't true for all his teammates.

96th over: Pakistan 273-6 (Salman 11, Jamal 4) Ben Stokes keeps things moving by signing Jack Leach in place of Matthew Potts. He has a slip in place and first bowls straight to Salman, who hides a single to mid-wicket. Jamal cuts another straight shot low for a two count.

95th over: Pakistan 270-6 (Salman 10, Jamal 2) Carse hits the bat harder than the speed gun suggests (about 90 mph). Jamal gets a two count with a hip strike; Without an extended stop by Bashir there would have been four.

For the second time in as many overs, a batsman pulls his glove from his grip after being caught off guard by an extra bounce. Maybe this pitch will start to work. Whatever the pros and cons of using the same pitch, it has made for some truly fascinating cricket.

94th over: Pakistan 268-6 (Salman 10, Jamal 0) Salman looks suspiciously at the pitch after a ball from Potts hits the bat high. Then he has to crouch to defend another who is holding a little low.

Salman, hitherto without a stroke, cracks Potts' last throw to the extra cover boundary. Fine shot.

93rd over: Pakistan 264-6 (Salman 6, Jamal 0) Brydon Carse's numbers are 13-6-15-2. He should be convicted for plagiarizing Curtly Ambrose.

Carse brought Rizwan to ordergot a little more bounce and found the outside edge. It flew towards him, causing him to jump to his right for an excellent two-handed catch. This was particularly good because his weight was shifted in the other direction and he had to change direction in a split second.

WICKET! Pakistan 264-6 (Rizwan c Smith b Carse 41)

92nd over: Pakistan 263-5 (Rizwan 41, Salman 5) After hitting the first four balls at the stumps, Potts bowls one further to tempt Rizwan. It comes with an excellent cover ride for four people.

Rizwan is not out! Too high and also down. England have reached their final assessment. However, it was a great performance from Potts.

Rizwan pushed beyond the line from a nice nipbacker that hit him on the back of the thigh. Too high?

England review for LBW against Rizwan!

Potts rejected a big LBW call against Rizwan. Ben Stokes reviews, albeit somewhat cautiously. To the naked eye it looked very close.

91st over: Pakistan 259-5 (Rizwan 37, Salman 5) Carse has a slip, a gully and a short mid-on in catching positions for Salman, who starts his work with a few watertight defensive shots.

As mentioned, Salman is a very good number 7. Of those with at least 500 Test runs at this position, his average of 49 is the tenth highest. It's a good list. Brian McMillan was a bloody bastard who was a constant thorn in England's side in the mid-1990s.

The answer to the following question is: Seam, specifically Brydon Carse. He's about to open the bowling alley.

The second new ball is 10 overs old. Spin or seam? Most of the time this is a given; not here. On the first day the spinners had more bite with the new ball and the quicks were more dangerous when the older ball started to turn. There is some cloud cover on the other hand and both Mohammad Rizwan and Salman Agha are excellent players of spin.

I might suggest a bob in any direction, but Ben Stokes doesn't usually work that way.

Save the date: November 21, 2025

Kamran Ghulam's magnificent hundred was only the sixth by a No. 4 batsman on Test debut. That's less than any other place in the top eight. It sounds strange, but it actually makes sense. As Yas Rana pointed out on the Wisden Patreon podcast, No. 4 is such a pivotal position that it usually goes to the most established player, not the least.

There's no such thing as a bad debut century, but the context made it particularly good.

“Yesterday’s chat about AI and robot cricketers reminded me of this gem by the great Harry Pearson,” writes Paul Lakin.

This is hilarious, thanks for submitting. I don't remember reading it at the time. Sad to think a piece like this is unlikely to be commissioned these days.

The first email of the day comes from Zain Malik

Coming into the game at 19 for 2 in the first ten overs is pressure enough. At the behest of a many-headed monster, he arrived midway through the series in arguably the worst state the team has seen since Lord's 2010, stepping in as a replacement for Pakistan's biggest star since Shahid Afridi on a pitch cursed to close turn It was conjured by a wizard? And then become only the 12th Pakistani to score a century on debut? Yes, this is not a leisurely walk in the park. Sure, it's not Harry Brooks 300, but for a nation on the verge of losing faith in its beloved team, Kamran Ghulam came in and bolded his name.

With every shot he sent back at Leach, it was as if he was whispering, “Babar who?” But Ghulam's century says more: Pakistan's domestic career continues to produce world-class talent. The trouble only begins when the players become bigger than the system. And let's be honest, an authoritarian board trying to fix a broken team mid-series by throwing big names around? Classic PCT.

But hey, it's a completely different day in Multan. Now it's up to Rizzy and Agha. And Agha, sitting at No. 7, has quietly become the anchor of Pakistan's depth. In 15 Tests he has scored over a thousand runs with three hundreds and eight fifties, at a cool average of over 47. A No.7 with an average of 45+ and real bowling ability? This is an all-rounder that deserves a lot more hype. He's probably eyeing another century just to keep things interesting.

As Ramiz Raja put it at Lord's in 2010 after Pakistan overturned a 2-0 deficit to level the ODI series, a month after the spot-fixing scandal at the same ground: “From chaos, brilliance. Only Pakistan…” I can’t think of a team in any sport whose incompetence would be less trustworthy.

Simon Burnton's report from day one

On this pitch, specially selected and prepared to support spinners, England bowled 15 overs of seam in a row, took two wickets and conceded just 40 runs, despite having over half a dozen fielders in an intimidating parabola around the batsman most of the time were distributed. They leave behind vast areas of empty grass.

preamble