England on the verge of series defeat as wickets fall after Pakistan fightback | Pakistan vs England 2024

Welcome to the House of Saud. England crossed the threshold on Friday in the hope of cementing a narrow lead and found themselves on the brink of emphatic defeat after Saud Shakeel transformed the game in almost every way. Where there was chaos he brought calm, when his team were struggling he brought success, and his spectacularly unspectacular century put England in a situation from which they seemed unable to escape.

Shakeel's 134, built in large part through partnerships with England's spin bowling nemesis Noman Ali and Sajid Khan in late innings, helped Pakistan to a first innings total of 344 and a lead of 77. At the end there were nine overs to go At stumps on the day the tourists had stumbled to 24 for three, still 53 behind, with Noman and Sajid again their undoing.

The 29-year-old Shakeel struggled for most of the day, providing a blueprint for success on this surface. It was impossible for England to compete against Sajid, Noman and a new ball. Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley were both trapped with England's score at 15, the former after a successful review – Sharfuddoula Saikat mysteriously refused to submit to an appeal by Pakistan's theatrical chorus line conducted by Sajid – and the latter after an unsuccessful and, pretty desperate under the circumstances.

Noman picked up a second wicket in the penultimate over of the day after the deeply out-of-form Ollie Pope was on the verge of slipping after scoring just one. At the start of the day England seemed to be on the right track, at the end they seemed to be in complete disarray.

Shakeel had already proven himself to be an excellent player of spin – before this innings he averaged 87.8 against slow bowling and 100 against off-spin in Tests, compared to 33.6 against seam and 53 overall – and seems to be to be blessed with infinite patience.

Conditions that others couldn't cope with were catnip to him. Most of his runs consisted of one-off runs, maneuvering gently into gaps and stroking the forefoot with gentle hands.

On 26, he actually offered something of a chance by pushing Shoaib Bashir to the wicketkeeper, although he had enough contact to deflect the ball beyond the reach of Jamie Smith's gloves, and that was as close to a dismissal as possible until 86 Runs and a ball less than 59 overs later, he survived a review for lbw.

Shakeel made 53 runs with Shan Masood on the first and second days, followed by a lively stand of 52 off 85 balls with Mohammad Rizwan. These were inconveniences for England, but after Rehan Ahmed took three quick wickets just before lunch it seemed little more than that. From 151 for four, Pakistan had slipped to 177 for seven, still 90 behind, when Noman came in at number 9.

The next session, shortened by half an hour as part of the restructuring that included a one-hour break for Friday prayers, was the first in the game to be completely dominated by the bat.

Noman's Test history isn't exactly littered with impressive scores, but he had given a strong indication of his ability to build good late-innings partnerships in Multan last week when he and Aamer Jamal scored 49 for the ninth wicket in Pakistan's first innings. Here he and Shakeel added 88 and turned the game on its head.

One thing England never really figured out in the first innings was whether their top team would find it easier to succeed against a tired, aging ball. That was not a question that Pakistan left unanswered and with the bowlers increasingly finding it difficult to find a sharp turn or an unpredictable bounce, England shifted their focus from chasing wickets to securing their first innings advantage – and that was that Moment when the opponents were really successful.

Because they were busy pushing boundaries, they made it easy to score singles, leaving plenty of inviting gaps just a gentle nudge away. Noman and Shakeel proved to be impeccable, gentle nudges.

Noman scored a few boundaries, once bowling Rehan six times over long-on, but the majority of their runs consisted of real running. When Shakeel Bashir hit through mid-wicket for four in the 87th over, just after the same bowler, by now working with a new ball, had finally got rid of Noman, it was his first boundary in 108 deliveries and the start of a new phase in his innings.

Noman fell in the last over before tea, which Pakistan reached with two wickets in hand and the score level. This brought out Sajid Khan, who despite all his qualities is not a natural talent. Ever the showman, the 31-year-old is much more the bludgeoning type and he chased his ninth ball over midwicket six times to start a remarkably unusual spell in which 43 runs from three overs were scored and England's spirit was broken seemed to be. Moments earlier, Harry Brook had actually done a cartwheel as he returned to the pitch after a quick visit to the dressing room, but suddenly it was a team of slumped shoulders and slumped heads.

Shakeel eventually fell to Gus Atkinson to shorten midwicket and Zahid Mahmood fell on his first ball. But conceding painful runs in the late innings has been a hallmark of the England series and it could be decided before they break the habit.

Of Pakistan's eight highest partnerships in this series, one has been for the seventh wicket, one for the eighth and now three for the ninth, and a team known for its weak batting has become resolute. Now it is England that has to turn things around.