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England in dire straits after Pakistan spinners rip through top order in third Test
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Thursday, October 24, 2024
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Wednesday, October 23, 2024
England add Rehan Ahmed and Jordan Cox to white-ball squad
Rehan Ahmed and Jordan Cox have been added to England’s white-ball squad for the forthcoming tour of the West Indies.
Leg-spinner Ahmed has been picked for the third Test in Pakistan and will transfer directly from Rawalpindi to the Caribbean once the match is complete.
Wicketkeeper-batter Cox has not featured in the series and has been released immediately.
🚨 Squad Update 🚨
𝗝𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗮𝗻 𝗖𝗼𝘅 – Jordan will leave at the end of today’s play and head home to the UK, before joining our white-ball tour of the Caribbean.
𝗥𝗲𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗔𝗵𝗺𝗲𝗱 – Rehan will also join the white-ball squad at the end of this Test match. pic.twitter.com/BQmkpi018O
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) October 24, 2024
He is expected to be available for all three ODIs, but not the subsequent T20 leg as he prepares for the next Test trip to New Zealand.
England play the first ODI in Antigua next Thursday with Liam Livingstone set to captain the side for the first time.
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Ben Stokes hopes ‘good vibes’ can propel England to series-deciding win
Ben Stokes hopes a late injection of “good vibes” helps England throw off the shackles and wrap up their series-decider against Pakistan.
The teams arrived in Rawalpindi locked at 1-1 after trading wins in Multan and will go head to head over the next five days looking to score a knockout blow.
But there was no hint of growing pressure as the tourists kicked off their final practice session with a raucous six-hitting competition on the outfield.
With assistant coach Paul Collingwood providing the throwdowns, the players took it in turns trying to clear the ropes and were eliminated one by one until only two remained.
Rehan Ahmed edged Harry Brook in a best of three finale, celebrating his recall to the side after eight months with a sweet straight hit and the all-important bragging rights.
With Pakistan sharing the same training slot and watching on from the other end of the ground, there may also have been a sense of showmanship as the ball disappeared repeatedly into the stands, but Stokes insisted it was all about setting the mood.
Rehan Ahmed smokes one to win England’s end of tour six-hitting comp in Rawalpindi.Harry Brook gets silver. pic.twitter.com/GkWAopMDcb
— Rory Dollard (@thervd) October 23, 2024
“Rehan wasn’t the odds-on favourite but he was happy to walk away with the trophy,” said the captain.
“It was the last training session of a long tour, we just tried to change it up and get the good vibes going.
“It’s been Groundhog Day over and over again, cricket ground and hotel, cricket ground and hotel. we just tried to change it up.”
Stokes, meanwhile, came up short in a one-on-one contest with head coach Brendon McCullum, the man he replaced as Test cricket’s record six-hitter.
“I’m nought from two against Baz in the six-hitting competition but I’ll just keep getting my tally higher and higher and further away from him. I’m still 20-odd ahead, so it’s fine,” he said.
The bonhomie did not go unnoticed in the opposition camp, with Pakistan coach Jason Gillespie noting an unusually easy-going group of players.
Former Australia seamer Gillespie enjoyed many tussles with England over the years and watched the national side with close interest during stints in charge of Yorkshire and Sussex.
But while he is impressed by the attitude of the current group, he warned their stated ambition of reclaiming the Ashes next winter is still an outside bet.
“In my time in cricket, I’m not sure if I’ve seen a more relaxed, happy environment from an England squad,” he said.
“They look like they’re having a lot of fun, they look like they’re all aligned. I still think Australia, in Australia, is a pretty tough assignment. There’s not many teams that go there and dominate, so I think it’s a big mountain to climb.
“But I think we know how England are going to approach the Ashes. They’re not going to die wondering.
“England have got nothing to lose. Everyone will assume Australia will come out on top and that probably works in England’s favour because they can just go out there and play and be positive and try to ruffle a few feathers.”
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Tuesday, October 22, 2024
England captain Ben Stokes braced for spin battle in decisive third Test
England captain Ben Stokes may have wondered whether Pakistan employed ground staff or gardeners ahead of the decisive third Test at Rawalpindi after concluding the hosts had been raking the pitch to assist their spinners.
Patio-style heaters, windbreaks and industrial fans have been used in recent days to bake the surface and replicate the turning conditions that helped Pakistan square the series on a reused wicket in Multan last week.
England had their first look at the track on Tuesday morning and were surprised to find uneven ridges at both ends, positioned on a good length and thought to be the result of extra attention from the team of curators working under Australian Tony Hemming.
Stokes appeared relaxed about Pakistan’s use of home advantage, with England attempting to fight fire with fire by recalling Rehan Ahmed as part of a three-pronged spin attack.
The leg-spinner joins slow left-armer Jack Leach and off-spinner Shoaib Bashir in the XI, with seamer Gus Atkinson also back as Brydon Carse and Matthew Potts stand down.
But the toss once again looks to be vital, with England expecting things to happen in a hurry once cracks open up and the surface deteriorates.
“It’s pretty obvious there’s been a few rakes put across it. It will be interesting to see how it goes,” Stokes said.
“I’ve never been a groundsman, but you’d think a rake would assist the spin. You look down it and we can have a pretty good guess which ends the Pakistan spinners will operate from.
“There’s not too much grass to hold everything together, (with) a couple of days’ traffic on there, foot holes and stuff like that. But it’s good, isn’t it?”
Batter Harry Brook made similar observations, adding with a smile: “They’ve had the rakes out, the fans and the heaters on the pitch.
“It’s interesting and it’s unique. I’d say it will be a good pitch for the first day, two days maybe, then it will start spinning. God knows, to be honest.”
The main beneficiary of the home side’s methods is Ahmed, who has been drafted in for his first appearance in eight months to help turn the tables on Pakistan.
He became England’s youngest ever men’s Test player in the final match of the 2022 series, taking the field in Karachi at the age of 18 years and 126 days and celebrating with a five-wicket haul in the second innings.
Now 20, he has earned just four further caps but is seen as a wildcard option who can help make things happen.
“Adding Rehan’s free spirit and desperation to change the game every time he’s got the ball in his hand is a massive bonus for us this week,” said Stokes.
🔒Locked in: Our XI for the final Test pic.twitter.com/RNn82j4ZD4
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) October 22, 2024
“Leg-spinners have an amazing ability to break a game open. The way Leachy and Bash have bowled has been fantastic in these first two Tests…you’ve got your slow left-arm spinner, your off-spinner and then you want to pick someone who isn’t a luxury, but someone who’s there to be able to break things open when you feel like it might be coming a little bit too easy at one end.
“You’d rather have that and not need it than need it and not have it.”
Tilting the balance of the side towards spin means room for only one frontline quick alongside Stokes, the all-rounder, and the shirt reverts to Atkinson.
England resisted the temptation to stick with newcomer Carse after a pair of exciting performances in Multan, instead keeping with their rotation policy in taxing temperatures.
“He’s had two amazing Tests, but it’s hard toil playing two Tests back to back, especially in the role he’s been used,” Stokes explained.
“He’s got a little bit of a sore, bruised heel, but that wasn’t the deciding factor. You look at the workload he’s put through his body in the last two Tests in particular and, with us opting for the extra spinner, the reason he’s not playing is more the make-up of the team.”
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England recall Rehan Ahmed in three-spinner line-up for third Test in Pakistan
England have recalled Rehan Ahmed as part of a three-pronged spin attack for the series-deciding third Test against Pakistan.
Ahmed joins slow left-armer Jack Leach and off-spinner Shoaib Bashir, with the tourists seemingly prepared for another turning track.
The pitch at Rawalpindi is renowned as a flat batting paradise but Pakistan have left it baking in the sun over the last three days and employed the same industrial fans they used to dry out the surface ahead of the second Test.
Over the weekend, patio-style heaters and windbreaks were also utilised to speed the process.
We’ve named three spinners to face Pakistan in the final Test 👀
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) October 22, 2024
England’s decision to add Ahmed to their bowling options suggests they believe spin will be the decisive factor, with Gus Atkinson returning as the sole specialist seamer backed up by captain and all-rounder Ben Stokes.
Durham quicks Brydon Carse and Matthew Potts drop out of the XI.
England batter Harry Brook made it clear that the work of the groundstaff had not gone unnoticed by his side, who are understood to have noted uneven ridges located on a good length.
“They’ve had the rakes out, the fans and the heaters on the pitch,” he said with a smile.
“It’s interesting and it’s unique. Hopefully, it’ll be a nice pitch for the first couple of days and then we’re expecting it to turn at the back end of the game.
“I’d say it will be a good pitch for the first day, two days maybe, then it will start spinning. God knows, to be honest. Everyone goes to look at the wicket and everyone says something different.
“Their spinners are obviously going to play a massive part this week. I’ve spoken to a few lads about game-plans and how we’ll go about it. Hopefully that pays off and I can play a big part in the game too.”
The match represents a big opportunity for Ahmed, who became England’s youngest ever men’s Test player in the corresponding fixture in 2022, taking the field in Karachi at the age of 18 years and 126 days.
He marked the occasion with a five-wicket haul on debut and added three further caps on the tour to India earlier this year. He has yet to play outside the sub-continent, where England are not scheduled to play again until early 2026.
He comes into the game with a strong record of 18 wickets in four games and happy memories of that first outing in Karachi.
“He’s an outstanding cricketer – not just his bowling, but his batting and fielding,” Brook said of the 20-year-old.
“He’s a young lad so he has a lot of time to come. He got five-for in his last Test here, so hopefully he can do that again.”
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Monday, October 21, 2024
Pecking order not important to Jack Leach as he enjoys England return
Jack Leach insists fighting to reclaim his status as England’s number-one spinner is “not important” after a summer of introspection helped rekindle his love of the game.
Leach lost his first-choice spot to Somerset colleague Shoaib Bashir earlier this year, having initially surrendered his grip when a knee injury forced him out of the tour to India.
The pair have played in tandem during this month’s series in Pakistan, which goes to a third Test decider in Rawalpindi on Thursday, but Leach, a dozen years older at 33, has again looked like the senior man.
The left-armer has 14 wickets at 26.50 compared to Bashir’s record of six at 51.16 and is the only bowler from either side to be trusted with more than 100 overs so far.
Shiny head 🤝 Shiny ball pic.twitter.com/2yqEESpaeu
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) October 15, 2024
Should he impress again this week it could test the conviction of the England selectors but Leach himself is unmoved by the idea of striving for supremacy with his Taunton team-mate.
“For me it’s all about the team. I’m maybe at an age where that’s all that really matters to me,” he said.
“They haven’t said either way and, for me, that’s not important at the moment. It’s all about coming out here and trying to contribute. Whether you’re playing as that first or second spinner, it doesn’t matter.
“You’re both working together and trying to do well for the team. That (pecking order) is not really in my thoughts. I don’t know whether that will ever happen for me but that’s not the most important thing.
“Whereas before it was maybe ‘I just want wickets, I need wickets’, maybe it’s a slightly different mindset now.”
Leach’s relaxed outlook comes on the back of a season in the trenches of county cricket, time he spent rebuilding his enthusiasm for the sport.
Having wrestled with form, fitness, illness and injury during his time in the international arena, he used his demotion by England as a chance to reassess.
“I was disappointed but I felt very clear on what I needed to do: my goal for the summer was to just enjoy the game of cricket and try to do my best for whoever I was playing for,” he said.
“When you have those kind of setbacks – the injuries I had in India – another one is not too bad to deal with. (I wanted) to really enjoy my cricket with Somerset and learn to love the game a bit more again.
“I just felt like I needed to rediscover that kid-like mentality of why you play the game. You have that on the journey up to playing for England, that nothing-to-lose mentality. Then it’s, ‘I’m here now, I want to keep that’.
“That’s tiring, it’s stressful, it’s not enjoyable. The upsides, the opportunity, all the things Baz (head coach Brendon McCullum) talks to us about, I felt like I loved all of those things but maybe I was being a bit of a fraud in terms of enjoying them but not actually living by them.
“I’ve tried to do that and it certainly made me enjoy the game more.”
Rawalpindi represents a return to one of Leach’s most cherished moments – taking the match-winning wicket late on the final evening in 2022 to beat the race against bad light and complete one of England’s most unlikely overseas victories.
“That’s probably my favourite wicket,” he said.
“I remember coming off and saying to Jimmy Anderson, ‘I feel quite emotional’. It was an amazing game of cricket and always one of the most special wins I’ve played in.”
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Pakistan work to create spin-friendly Rawalpindi pitch for England decider
Pakistan continued to bake the Rawalpindi pitch with the help of industrial-sized fans, in a bid to hit England with spin in the decisive third Test which starts on Thursday.
The hosts levelled the series on a re-used surface in Multan last week, having taken the unusual step of drying the pitch out with large fans stationed at each end.
The tactic worked as home spinners Noman Ali and Sajid Khan shared all 20 wickets in a 152-run win, and work has been under way attempting to get the ball turning again this week.
Some fans are on the pitch….
…they think it’s all over. It is now? pic.twitter.com/i44fpR1Aug
— Rory Dollard (@thervd) October 21, 2024
Pictures emerged on social media over the weekend showing six patio-style heaters and a pair of windbreaks being utilised by groundstaff in an apparent attempt to recycle warm air and make it a more bowler-friendly surface.
Pakistan trained on Monday, with just the two oversized fans remaining on an uncovered square taking in the midday sun.
The operation is being overseen by the Pakistan Cricket Board’s Australian head curator Tony Hemming, though it remains to be seen how successful it is second time around. Conditions for the second Test were more extreme given the pitch had already seen more than 350 overs of action in the series opener and Rawalpindi is known for offering up flat batting decks.
When England won there in 2022, spinners were responsible for less than half the wickets in the match. The pitch was subsequently rated as “below average” by ICC match referee Andy Pycroft, whose report noted: “It was a very flat pitch which gave almost no assistance to any type of bowler.”
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