6 minute readThere were eight centurions in England’s gargantuan 823-7 against Pakistan in October 2024. Harry Brook (317) and Joe Root (262) attracted most of the headlines, but there was also Shaheen Shah Afridi (120), Naseem Shah (157), Abrar Ahmed (174), Aamer Jamal (126), Salman Ali Agha (118) and Saim Ayub (101).
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2 minute readZahid Mahmood took a wicket today. That was quite a big moment. It’s been a while since anyone other than Noman Ali or Sajid Khan took one for Pakistan. Zahid was lucky to even get a bowl, quite frankly. In the second Test, Noman Ali bowled 44.3 overs and Sajid
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2 minute readEngland are in Rawalpindi for the third and final Test of this series against Pakistan with the scoreline currently 1-1. Last time they were here, they made 500 on the first day. Will we see a repeat of that? To quickly recap, England’s last Test in Rawalpindi began with Zak
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4 minute readFielding sides loathe few things more than a really, really good number seven batter. So why is it so rare that a player is specifically picked to do the job? “Initially, I used to complain,” Pakistan’s Salman Ali Agha told Sky Sports this week about coming in at number seven.
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3 minute readLook, we’re not an entomologist and grainy, low quality social media footage isn’t helping us here. All we know is a flapping insect tried to run Zak Crawley out, only for Sajid Khan to get to the stumps first, where he made a right royal hash of things. You think
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5 minute readThis Multan pitch is flatter than a pancake that’s gone under a Looney Tunes steamroller. That doesn’t mean you can score infinite runs on it though. Even Harry Brook had to settle for a mere 317 – and he’s so far made a hundred in every Test he’s played in
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3 minute readJoe Root reached his latest hundred with one of those reverse sweeps of his. We’ve seen them plenty of times before, of course. We’ve seen all of it plenty of times before. It doesn’t stop being impressive, but it’s become a nagging, cumulative impressiveness that never really leaves you, rather
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3 minute readEngland did really well last time they toured Pakistan. Now they’re back without their captain or any of the quick bowlers who did well in that series. Chris Woakes’s back As in ‘returned’. He hasn’t got ankylosing spondylitis or anything. When England toured and won in 2022, they used four
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2 minute readThe first Test between Pakistan and England starts on Monday – a somewhat jarring fact, given that most of the recent England news has centred on one-day internationals (both results and squads). It will be in Multan (again). To quickly recap: In 2022 England made their first Test tour to
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4 minute readNo prizes for predicting that England and Pakistan would be two of the ‘big’ nations struggling to qualify for the next phase of this T20 World Cup. New Zealand aren’t usually on the receiving end of drubbings though, even if Afghanistan victories in these tournaments don’t exactly qualify as upsets
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