by Paul Collingwood insisted England had not given up hope of beating Pakistan despite ending the third day of the second Test with a near-depleted pitch of 36 for two, still 261 runs away from a distant and challenging target. “We will continue to believe in it,” said the assistant coach. “It’s going to be a hell of a hunt, but we have to be realistic – this is a difficult task.”
England’s chase got off to a dismal start with Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley both failing within the first four overs. Their only real cause for optimism is the ease with which Salman Agha scored 63 runs in the late innings as Pakistan reached 221 in the second over – at least once benefiting from two dropped catches while still in single figures.
“We have to be realistic, it’s going to be a tough chase on the ninth day that wicket was taken,” Collingwood said. “But this team is capable of some special things and they have some batters who can put the bowlers under pressure in such conditions. We all know that when you get going and create a partnership, anything can happen.”
Collingwood said victory in this match would be an even greater achievement than last week’s record-breaking success in the opening Test played at the same Multan pitch. “I think under the circumstances and conditions that would be the case,” he said. “The amazing thing now is that there is still hope, and there is only hope because of the amazing things these guys have done in the past.”
But England will not curb their attacking instincts in a game situation that could put some players in a corner. “The statistics will tell you when you are on the fourth day of hunting. If you fumble and don’t try to put the bowler under pressure, the close fielders will catch you,” said Collingwood. “We will not deviate from our mantra. Our mantra is to apply pressure when necessary and apply as much pressure as possible when the opportunity arises.”
It was Salman’s 65-run ninth-wicket partnership with the irrepressible Sajid Khan that took England’s chances of a 2-0 series lead from the feasible to the far-fetched, with the Pakistani selection for this game losing some of the most high-profile Bringing in players and filling your team with weirdos – should apparently pay off.
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“I thought it would be difficult because there were a lot of big changes,” Salman said. “The way the new boys have come in is very good for Pakistan cricket. It will be huge [to win] because we haven’t won a friendly at home for I don’t know how many years. It will be a big thing for us and we will put all our effort into it.”
