'Looks terrible' – England star suffers horrific thumb injury, forcing immediate substitution against Pakistan

England star Ben Duckett may have helped end Pakistan's innings, but it came at a significant cost.

Pakistan had already posted a sizeable total in the first innings of the first Test, but it ended at the hands of Joe Root.

2

Root sent a short ball down that caught Abrar Ahmed off guard as he passed the pass straight to Duckett, who was the only fielder at slip.

Duckett made no mistake in the catch, sending Ahmed back to the pavilion, but when the ball stuck to his hands, he knew something was wrong.

The 29-year-old raised his hands to England's medical staff and clutched his left wrist, although it was his left thumb that looked worn out.

Duckett's injury is the last thing England need, with captain Ben Stokes ruled out of the first Test with a hamstring injury, while Mark Wood remains sidelined with a stress fracture in his right elbow.

This is particularly problematic as Duckett was set to open the batting lineup alongside Zak Crawley.

Instead, stand-in skipper Ollie Pope opened with Crawley, but his innings lasted just two balls after he was caught for a duck by Aamir Jamal.

Pope tried to fend off a short ball throw from Naseem Shah and caught it well, but Jamal jumped up and caught the ball out of the air with his right hand.

Jon Norman, cricket editor at talkSPORT, gave an update: “It hit Duckett on the thumb and the slow-motion replays looked terrible.” Duckett immediately signaled to the dressing room and didn't come out to bat.

“Ollie Pope came out… and he's already out. Second ball duck.

The innings would also be over by this point as Jamie Smith missed a simple stomp and Gus Atkinson dropped a catch.

2

England still have a lot to do if they want to catch up with Pakistan's first innings total of 556.

Although Pakistan lost opener Saim Ayub in the fourth over, Abdullah Shafique and Shan Masood formed an impressive 253-run partnership before the former fell for 102 off 184.

Masood was out just a few overs later after being caught by Jack Leach and bowled for 151.

The Pakistan middle order made some important contributions with Saud Shakeel scoring 82 and Salman Ali Agha finishing the innings unbeaten on 104.

Leach was the leading wicket-taker for England with three wickets, although he managed 160 runs in his 40 overs.

Gus Atkinson and Brydon Carse took two wickets while Root, Chris Woakes and Shoaib Bashir grabbed one each.