England 657 (Brook 153, Crawley 122, Pope 108, Duckett 107) and 264 for 7 dec (Brook 87, Root 73, Crawley 50) beat Pakistan 579 (Babar 136, Imam 121, Shafique 114, Jacks 6-161) and 268 (Shakeel 76, Anderson 4-36, Robinson 4-50) by 74 runs
A win’s a win, right? Nope. England can understandably be ultra tubthumping in their celebrations of a 74-run victory for the ages on the final evening of a remarkable Test against Pakistan in Rawalpindi.
It went down to the wire, with five wickets still needed after tea on Monday and a quick-sinking sun making its way ominously towards the horizon.
But it all came down to the last day – and the final 90 minutes of it.
Having finally coaxed an aging ball to reverse after lunch, England were vindicated in their decision not to take the new one which became available three overs after tea.
With Agha Salman and Azhar Ali having settled into a half-century stand for the fifth wicket and Pakistan needing another 86 runs for victory in the final session, Robinson trapped Salman without adding to his tea-time score of 30 with an inswinger that pinned him back in his crease and England overturned the initial not-out decision when ball-tracking confirmed he was on target.
On the next ball, Robinson was left in disbelief when his inswinger shaved the outside of Naseem Shah’s off stump about a third of the way up but the bails stayed put. It wasn’t long, however, before he had Azhar caught at leg slip by Joe Root trying to flick another inswinger off his hip.
Naseem rode his luck, edging Stokes between Pope and Root at first slip as he and Mohammad Ali staged critical half-an-hour worth of resistance with their final-wicket stand.
Stokes finally took the second new ball with the light fading fast and it was Leach who sealed the win when he pinned Naseem on the front pad, the batter’s hopeful review only adding momentary delay to the tourists unleashing their full-blown jubilation.
England claimed just one wicket in the morning session, that of Imam-ul-Haq, who had steadied his side from 25 for 2 on the fourth day but added only five to his overnight 43 before he was strangled down the leg side by Anderson.
Anderson removed the dangerous Rizwan on 46 with one that reversed just enough and found an edge that flew through to Pope, ending an 87-run stand with Shakeel.
The dismissal brought back Azhar, who had retired hurt the previous evening after copping a nasty blow to the finger from Robinson. It was Robinson who struck again when Shakeel fell after a fine half-century on debut. England had set attacking fields throughout and Robinson snared Shakeel with a fuller ball outside off which hooped to short cover where Keaton Jennings, substitute fielder for the injured Liam Livingstone, took a mid-air stunner leaping to his right.
England thought Robinson had another when he struck Salman on the pad lunging forward, but umpire Joel Wilson’s not-out decision was upheld on review with the ball going down the leg side.
If they hoped that was the breakthrough they needed, England were convinced when a return to spin saw Salman given out lbw after being struck in the midriff attempting to slog-sweep Leach. But the batter overturned his dismissal when the DRS revealed the ball was going over the stumps. Compounding their woes, Robinson saw Pope drop a tough chance down the leg side off Azhar, on 36, in the over before tea.
In the end, no chances or half-chances mattered as England’s patience and new-found faith in themselves under Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum won the day.
Valkerie Baynes is a general editor at ESPNcricinfo
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