Multan cricket ground: What can England and Pakistan expect in the second Test?

The calm nature of the Multan surface made batting seem easy at times in the first Test – at least if you were from Yorkshire!

Harry Brook, who became England's first triple centurion in 34 years, shared a partnership of 454 with Joe Root, surpassing the previous best of 411 set by Colin Cowdrey and Peter May 67 years ago.

It came as England declared 823-7 in response to Pakistan's 556 – the fourth highest tally in Test history – before bowling out the hosts for 220 on the final day.

Former England captain Michael Atherton was unapologetic about his assessment of the pitch used for the game.

“It’s a shocking Test match,” Atherton said on Sky Sports.

“If you don't have the balance between bat and ball, you're going to get a lot of bad cricket. So it wasn’t a good pitch, even though there was a result.”

Former England captain Nasser Hussain said the surface was typical of Pakistan pitches and the end result “does not justify everything that came before”.

So exactly how much did the pitch resemble a bowlers' graveyard in the first Test?

Well, since Test cricket returned to Pakistan in 2019, there have been 16 Tests in which Cricviz has had the opportunity to chase the ball.

Of those 16 tests, this Multan pitch produced the second lowest average swing (0.63 degrees) but was the third highest when it came to the seam (0.53 degrees).

It is perhaps the spinners who struggled the most – certainly Pakistan's – with drift the lowest of all 16 Tests (1.16°) and the fourth lowest spin (2.86°) in that time.

When England were victorious in Multan on their last tour of Pakistan in 2022, the hosts posted their highest score of the game (328) in the fourth innings as England cruised to a 26-run win.