With apologies for the triple post, but 1 run in the 3 overs after tea suggests to me that Pakistan have decided to take no risks here. Which could be an error, as it also amounts to giving England a free go, in my view - every ball could be a wicket (in theory - yes I know, not on this pitch). If there is no scoreboard pressure on England they can afford to set increasingly attacking fields to try and induce the required collapse.
It used to be that batters were “offered the light” i.e. told they could retire if they wanted. Nowadays it’s the umpires call but based on the light meter, so more objective.
So it used to be more of a negotiation - the threat of batters walking could force the fielding team to bowl spin, or they could insist on pace and thus end the match. And of course there are a handful of famous occasions, one of which @Teuton mentioned, when batters turned down the offer of light and were quite happy to play the pace (because of confidence, momentum, skill differentials, swashbuckling sportsmanship, sheer bloody-mindedness etc.).
According to this
Sunrise and sunset times in Rawalpindi (timeanddate.com)
There are 10 hours of light in Rawalpindi this time of year, with sun setting at 5pm. So play would have to start at 9am to fit in 6 hours play plus lunch and tea.
It’s the traditional way, though, you stop yourself losing before you go for a win. How many times in this thread have posters complained that teams have been to conservative, not gone for the kill? It’s the big difference with the new England approach - they look for the win first. It won’t work every time, but it’s worked ok so far and, let’s be honest, the team before McCullum took over as coach was crap.
Pakistan have lost their 6th wicket. They need about 4 an over to get the runs before Cricinfo reckon they will come off, and I suspect that now they will not go for it.
Thank you - to me this highlights the ridiculousness of the original scheduling - didn’t it basically assume play would need to continue after sunset in order to fit in the overs? If you need to start at 9am, then do it.
I suppose another reason for not starting too early in the morning (especially in England) could be to give time for dew to dry off - but I would have thought cricket spikes could cope with a bit of dew, no?
I know, but even on the traditional view, in this particular situation it was possibly counter-productive to not go for at least a few shots, unless you disagree with the analysis in my previous post. It’s one thing to start out needing 343 and think if you just bat out the time, you’ll get the runs (which would have been true if the full amount of overs were available), it’s another to get to needing 86 with 5 wickets in hand (and with 3 overs until the new ball) and then decide shutting up shop is the right strategy.
Pakistan were lucky not to lose their 7th immediately after their 6th (the next ball from Oli Robinson grazed off stump but didn’t dislodge the bails), but the other batter (Azhar Ali) has now gone and England are massive favourites now.
Another wicket down. England are into the tail with the new ball available and the old ball swinging.
Pakistan are almost certainly going to start playing for the draw now, but with c. 15-20 overs to go this is definitely a situation where over-caution will likely lead to wickets falling as England get to smother and dominate. Pakistan need at least the threat of a win to keep England cautious. But they can’t start blasting at this point, so they need to go at c.3 an over for 10 overs to make the possibility of streaky fours and village sixes distantly viable.
…or I’m wrong and they can just block out a draw for the next hour.
The pitch is still true, Pakistan have thrown the win away but the draw is still probably favourite. England’s hope is that one wicket brings more and the tail often folds.
2 runs until this is the highest scoring 5-day test ever, with only 2 Timeless tests ahead of it.
In completely unrelated news, Scotland are having a successful visit to Namibia as part of the Cricket World Cup League 2, winning their first two games against Nepal and Namibia comfortably.
Of particular interest to me in this series is debutant Brandon McMullen (not to be confused with Brendon McCullum), who has just made his first international 50, and has been taking wickets in earlier matches. Brandon has spent a couple of summers at our local county club, where he has also been a popular coach for my son’s under-13s team, so it’s really quite cool to see him doing well for Scotland.
8th wicket down in Pak/England! Probably about 50 minutes or so left (based on prior days).
The ESPN commentary implies that although the pitch may be true, England have managed to coax some movement out of a possibly misshapen old ball. I don’t think many share your opinion about draw being favourite (even allowing for the fact it was posted at 7 down - it’s now 9 down).
It should be the highest-scoring decisive test match.
And England have done it - that was tense, what a match.
The last 60 balls of that innings contained precisely 1 scoring shot - and that an edge that could easily have been caught. Which I think rather proves my point from earlier.
And that’s that! Shah caught LBW with probably less than 20 minutes left to play.
And 1,768 runs does set the record for a Test match with a decision and third-highest period.
Great photo here. Who’d be a tail-ender?
To go back to the question of starting times, at least in the 1970s and 1980s when I was in Pakistan, there would be too much dew on the grass in Dec-Feb in Lahore and ‘Pindi to start play at 9am.
That was an unexpected result but full marks to Stokes for the forceful nature of his captaincy approach. It was a bold move to bat that quickly in both innings and even more so to declare when he did.
I thought it was 50 runs and a hour too optimistic but…I was wrong, but had I been proven right I still would have admired and approved of the ambition.
Give it a short while and there’ll be a list somewhere of all the various records smashed by this test.
Thanks, that’s useful local information. However, surely technology, money, and manpower have all increased dramatically since then such that a solution is available?
Agree with all of the above. Important to acknowledge that had they taken that increased margin of safety, this game would have ended in a dull draw almost for sure.
Sadly the most important thing that might have increased is the temperature.
Cricinfo has a selection here:
Takeaways:
- Highest aggregate total for a non-timeless Test (3rd highest overall)
- Highest aggregate total for any Test to produce a result
- Fastest run-rate for any Test longer than 2,000 balls
- Pakistan’s 847 was the 2nd-highest aggregate for the losing side in a Test
England faced 821 balls and score 921 runs, which has to be some sort of scoring record.
Despite all the above, it finished in an old-style blockathon, with Pakistan scoring 9 from 19.3 overs in the final session.
@Dead_Cat - The dew has always been the problem with early starts. It’s not just damp outfields, there’s also the issue of local humidity + cool temperatures causing the ball to swing wildly on early mornings. Scheduling 11am - 6pm when sunset is at 5pm and you’re not prepared to use lights is just stupid, however.
Does not compute. I’m sure there is a good explanation, but isn’t the whole purpose of a “timeless” test to guarantee a result?
I’m pretty sure it’s 10am to 5pm.