Key events
Shaheen Shah Afridi has the ball in his hand. Shall we?
England have used the heavy roller this morning and I’m boring myself in the hope it will expand the cracks on this pitch. The problem, as Nasser Hussain says on Sky, is that so far the ball has done almost nothing off those cracks.
Simon Burnton’s day three report
Earlier this year Joe Root mocked Harry Brook for referring to him as “grandad” but it almost seemed appropriate as he hauled himself up to the dressing room at tea, 119 runs and 187 balls into his innings, using his bat as a makeshift walking stick while his fellow Yorkshireman disappeared ahead of him, vaulting the steps two at a time.
Read Ali Martin on Joe Root, the scamp who grew up to be a genius
It may be that, as well as cricket’s paywalled existence in the UK, this lack of ego and self-promotion has stopped Root fully transcending the sport. There was a time when the man of the series in a home Ashes win would have booked a spot on the shortlist for BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
But in 2015, when Root achieved that feat, he did not make the cut. Root is not lacking in personality – far from it, he is a beauty – but somehow this understated excellence in his chosen field has never quite gone fully mainstream, unlike Andrew Flintoff in 2005 or Ben Stokes in 2019. This being a more low-key year for England’s Test side, the trend will probably continue (Spoty has long since lost its lustre anyway). But there is little doubt we are watching greatness right now.
Preamble
Morning. When Ben Stokes became England captain in 2022, he was asked whether he might, like Nasser Hussain at the turn of the century, stabilise a desperate team by first making them hard to beat. “Nah,” Stokes smiled. “I don’t think there’ll be too many draws.”
He’s been as good as his word. In the Bazball era England have drawn only one of their 29 Tests, and that was because of two days of miserable, biblical rain in Manchester during the 2023 Ashes.
The next few hours will tell us whether England detest draws or merely dislike them. In their position, the usual approach to would be for at least three hours and go well past Pakistan’s first-innings total, but that would increase the chances of the dreaded D-word. An early declaration would make a positive result a bit more likely – but it might also expose England to another D-word, defeat.
It feels weird to talk about a team – an England cricket team – that would genuinely prefer to lose than draw. But that was unquestionably the case at Trent Bridge in 2022, albeit in slightly different circumstances, so it will be fascinating to see how England play this.
They will resume on 492 for 3, a deficit of 64, after a day of plenty for their batters. Ben Duckett defied a busted thumb to make the breeziest of 84s before Joe Root and Harry Brook gave a masterclass in the business of run-scoring.
Root became England’s highest Test run-scorer en route to 176 not out; Brook went up and down the gears like a veteran and still managed to score 141 not out from only 173 balls. There should be loads more runs out there today, if England want them.
