England will go into Wednesday’s crucial decider in Rawalpindi doing their best to laugh off Pakistan’s latest attempts to ambush them on a turning pitch, with fans, heaters and rakes all employed in a bid to trip up Ben Stokes’s team.
Both Stokes and Harry Brook referred with a smile to the home side’s tactics during the build-up to the third Test, with Stokes gamely suggesting: ‘It’s good, isn’t it?’
And England are fighting guile with guile, recalling Leicestershire leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed, who joins Jack Leach and Shoaib Bashir as part of a bold three-pronged spin attack. The selection, according to Stokes, was a no-brainer. ‘I’ve never been a groundsman, but you’d think a rake would assist the spin,’ he said. ‘You look down the pitch and can have a good guess which ends the Pakistan spinners will operate from.
‘There’s not too much grass to hold everything together — a couple of days’ traffic on there, footholes and stuff like that… it’s pretty obvious there’s been a few rakes put across it. It will be interesting to see how it goes.’
Brook sounded equally chipper: ‘They’ve had the rakes out, the fans and the heaters on the pitch. 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.’
Pakistan’s latest attempt ahead of the clash was to ambush England on a turning pitch, with fans, heaters and rakes all employed in a bid to trip up the visitors
England are fighting guile with guile, recalling Leicestershire leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed, who joins Jack Leach and Shoaib Bashir
With slow left-armer Noman Ali and off-spinner Sajid Khan fresh from sharing all 20 English wickets as Pakistan squared the series on a used surface in Multan, their newly-formed selection committee are keen for a repeat. If everything works out as they intend, they will become the first team to come from behind and win a three-match series against England.
The giant fans that have stood guard at each end of the pitch since the weekend were still in place 48 hours before the Test, in theory drawing any remaining moisture to the surface and encouraging it to dry out and, eventually, crack up.
The various ruses, all legal, are the work of Pakistan’s newly-formed selection committee, headed by former Test quick Aqib Javed and including ex-international umpire Aleem Dar. Cobbled together after England’s innings victory in the first Test, it has been tasked with avoiding a fifth successive home series without a win — an unprecedented sequence in Pakistan’s 72-year Test history.
The committee had already made their presence felt before the second Test, recalling the 38-year-old Noman and leg-spinner Zahid Mahmood, 36, after they were released from the squad for failing to run 2km in the required eight minutes. With Pakistan desperate for victory, fitness thresholds went out of the window.
But while Noman’s recall proved a triumph, their pitch fiddling may still come back to haunt them, after ICC match referee Richie Richardson was understood to have been unimpressed with their decision to recycle the strip for the first two Tests.
The governing body’s regulations state that the host board should ‘present the best possible pitch and outfield conditions for that match’, yet Multan had three other surfaces ready to go for the second Test. They were all ignored.
Previous England teams in Asia might have adopted a siege mentality, but Stokes and Brendon McCullum are not that way inclined.
ICC match referee Richie Richardson was understood to have been unimpressed with their decision to recycle the strip for the first two Tests
Instead, they are throwing themselves into the challenge, with the selection of Ahmed ahead of an extra seamer made easier because neither side is expecting much reverse-swing thanks to the lush square.
Gus Atkinson is back after sitting out the second Test, while the Durham quicks Brydon Carse, the best fast bowler of the series, and Matthew Potts are rested.
The return of Ahmed, who took a five-wicket haul in his previous Test in Pakistan — his debut two years ago in Karachi — allows Stokes to cover all his spin-bowling bases: Bashir’s off-breaks, Leach’s left-armers and Ahmed’s leg-breaks and googlies.
‘Leg-spinners have an amazing ability to break a game open,’ said Stokes. ‘Having his batting ability lower down the order is also a massive bonus. The way Leachy and Bash have bowled has been fantastic in these first two Tests. 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.’
Stokes, meanwhile, insisted he was ready to take on a greater role with the ball as one of only two seamers, despite sending down just 10 overs on his comeback in Multan after hamstring trouble. ‘I’m fully confident that I’ll be able to get more out of myself this week than I did last week,’ he said.
The toss may prove less crucial than it did in the second Test. As Stokes put it: ‘This will be a day-one wicket when we start, not day six.’
But it will still be one he would like to win. Between them, he and Ollie Pope have lost England’s last seven tosses, and the chance to bat first and reopen the wounds inflicted on Pakistan during a heady first day here two years ago will be beguiling.
England’s Harry Brook in the nets ahead of the third Test against Pakistan in Rawalpindi on Wednesday
Stokes insisted he was ready to take on a greater role with the ball as one of only two seamers
On that occasion, England reached stumps on 506 for four from 75 overs, with centuries for Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Pope and Brook.
It was a red-letter day for England’s Bazballers, made all the more remarkable for the fact that the only member of the top five not to tick off a hundred was Joe Root.
If he can right that wrong this week, Pakistan’s fans and heaters may amount to little more than hot air.
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