Abrar Ahmed takes five as England keep foot to the floor in Multan

Lunch England 180 for 5 (Stokes 14*, Jacks 0*, Abrar 5-70) vs Pakistan

From his first-over dismissal of Zak Crawley to the extraction of Harry Brook – the man who made 240 runs in 181 deliveries last week – Abrar’s canny variations, delivered with a disconcerting flick, ensured Pakistan claimed more wickets in his 13 overs of the session than they had managed in a chastening opening day of the series in Rawalpindi.

Nevertheless, with two of his other victims, Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope, setting another high tempo with a brace of fast-paced 60s, England’s innings still had some substance at 180 for 5 after an extended two-and-a-half hour morning session in Multan, with Ben Stokes still in situ on a relatively watchful 14 from 16, alongside Will Jacks.

As a measure of their tempo, England’s total was higher even than the 174 for 0 they had racked up before lunch en route to a record 506 for 4 on the first day of the series, but it was harder graft despite winning another useful toss. On a dry and cracked surface, that offered some early purchase for Faheem Ashraf’s cutters in particular, Crawley even played a first-over maiden, having made Pakistan wait until the 39th over at Pindi for their first runless over.

But England are no longer a team prepared to wait for the ball with their name on it in such conditions, and not even the loss of Crawley to a sublime googly in Abrar’s first over could persuade them to temper their aggression for long.

Having stood tall to the seamers to punch three trademark fours through the covers, Crawley was bowled clean through the gate for 19 from 37 balls as Abrar, with little discernible change of action, flicked out a fifth-ball wrong’un to take out the top of off stump and set the agenda for a morning of punch and counter-punch, in a contest that already feels in fast-forward.

Notwithstanding the delivery he had just witnessed, Pope – fresh from his century at Rawalpindi – signalled his intent with a first-ball reverse sweep for four off the final ball of Abrar’s over, but the same stroke nearly brought about his downfall against Zahid Mahmood, Pakistan’s other legspinner, as he entered the attack in the 14th over.

Mahmood endured a chastening debut in Rawalpindi, where his four first-innings wickets came at an eyewatering cost of 235 runs. But this Multan surface proved significantly more to his liking from the outset. Twice in a row, his high-kicking legbreaks beat Pope’s outside edge, and when the batter responded by reversing his hands on a sweep next ball, he was given out lbw for 11 – only for umpire Marais Erasmus to overturn his decision on review when replays showed he had been struck on the glove, not the pad.

Duckett, by this stage, was once again showing he is a magnificent manipulator of angles in spinning conditions, as he rushed along to a 40-ball half-century with a showcase of sweeps, reverse-sweeps and wristy late cuts. On 61, however, he too survived a curious case of glove before wicket, as he stooped for another reverse off Abrar and was given out on-field – but after some to-and-fro between Aleem Dar and the third umpire, Joel Wilson, that decision was also over-turned. It mattered little, however. Before the over was done, Abrar had his man, as Duckett this time missed a conventional sweep and Babar Azam successfully reviewed the on-field not-out.

At 117 for 2 after 19 overs, England were once again clattering along at more than a run a ball, but there was no thought of a consolidation as Joe Root, their best player of spin, came out to join Pope. On 8, Root played back to another big-turning legbreak from Abrar, and once again, Pakistan’s review proved successful. And when, four overs later, Pope top-edged a reverse-sweep to be caught at backward point for 60, England had slipped to 164 for 4.

There was time for further damage before the interval too, as Brook planted his front foot in a bid to take Abrar down over the long straight boundary, but scuffed his stroke high to Mohammad Nawaz at mid-off. And Abrar might even have made it six before the interval when Stokes, relatively becalmed but still eager to take the positive option, gave Nawaz another teaser at mid-on in the final over of the session.