Masood and Shafique score centuries as Pakistan punish England in Test opener | Pakistan vs England 2024

For weeks Pakistan teased England with talk of green pitches and sailor-friendly conditions and then, in the final hours before the opening match, they pulled off the covers, shaved off anything that betrayed signs of chlorophyll and gave the heavy roller one final, fatal blow Turn and when the coin fell in their favor, they asked the tourists to do their best.

What followed was a bowling performance that, at least until they took three wickets for 95 in the final session, was as flat as the surface on which the bowlers had to toil, and a chance for a Pakistan line-up struggling for form has.

Pakistan finished the game on 328 for four after Shan Masood and Abdullah Shafique's centuries put them in a dominant position – considering they started their last series with 448 for six over the better part of two days against Bangladesh and still managed to lose the game, it's still not one that feels particularly safe.

It is hard to imagine that the presence of Jimmy Anderson, England's fast bowling coach, would have improved matters, but this was certainly not a day when his decision to start the series on a Scottish golf course would have seemed wiser. For all their struggles, the seamers all had their moments: Chris Woakes' best performance came late in the day, under the lights and with the second new ball catching Babar Azam lbw, Brydon Carse bowled with pace and as much venom as it could Only possible extraction from the surface went and Gus Atkinson took two wickets.

The first of these gave England early hope, Pakistan's opening partnership failed and it was both a terrible result and the best in nine months. By the time the ball bounced Saim Ayub's glove down the leg side into Jamie Smith's gloves, he had scored four goals and his team eight, somehow considered to be the best partnership between him and Shafique to date. The openers have an average of 3.28 after seven attempts together. In the history of Test cricket, no pair has gone so long without reaching double figures.

If that was sweet, then all England had left was sweat. The breakthrough left Masood devastated and his struggling team on the brink of a new crisis. His position as both captain and in the team has become a matter of debate in recent months and it has been over four years and 26 innings since he last scored a Test ton, with his average in that time a miserable 20, 69 lay. But it quickly became clear that there were no demons in this situation and none in his head either.

From the start, when the first ball hit the ground for a pair, Masood's timing was good and his movements smooth, and he was particularly defensive when England tried a few short balls after lunch. But for a brief scare when he was awarded lbw on 16 – a decision that was reversed on review because the ball bounced past leg stump – he gave his opponents nothing but punishment.

Shafique at the other end was less fluent and more safety-oriented, as you would expect from a player who had been dismissed for less than five runs in eight of his last 10 Test innings. Not that it was without ambition, and he scored ten fours and two sixes – perfectly timed considering one was picked off the ground after Shoaib Bashir's spin, bringing up his 50 and the other was off after Jack's spin Leach scored an exuberant hundred on his way to a 184-ball 102.

Shafique's only miscalculation came at the beginning of the 17th century^Th The game ended when he claimed a completely ill-conceived individual goal against Carse, giving Ollie Pope a wonderful chance to take him out, but the England captain didn't fully appreciate how much time he had. From close range but sideways, he attempted a forearm throw at the stumps which narrowly missed while the batsman was still well away. After that, Shafique retreated into his shell and delivered 17 dot balls in a row, from which he finally got out by hitting 15 off a Bashir over his head.

The next time England came close to a wicket was exactly 26 overs later. Masood was at 115, and even that was only close in her imagination, with a throwback to a possible catch where at no point did anyone seem particularly keen to properly show the ball hitting just one pad before looping makes to slip (Popes 11).^Th Review as captain and thus proved to be just as poorly thought out as the previous 10, an extraordinary series of failures).

Both batters eventually fell in the hour after tea, Shafique edging straight to Pope at cover and Masood, who had scored 151 off 177, bowling a return catch to Leach. Babar and Saud Shakeel then shared a stand of 61 equally for the fourth wicket before the former fell to 30 to put Naseem Shah in as nightwatchman.

It's worth noting that England have never experienced a quicker turnaround from the last Test of the summer to the first Test of the winter. Sri Lanka secured victory at the Oval on September 9; It may not have been the horror show that had been threatened in the end, but this often lifeless display came, perhaps fittingly, 28 days later.