On a flat, bowler-unfriendly Multan wicket against quality opposition, 40-year-old Jimmy Anderson produced a jaw-dropping moment of brilliance against the odds.
With Pakistan at 0-66 and openers Abdullah Shafique and Mohammad Rizwan cruising on the third day of the second Test, Anderson was brought on by England captain Ben Stokes to bowl the first over after lunch.
And the veteran delivered with aplomb for the umpteenth time in his glittering Test career.
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Anderson produced a delivery that initially angled into Rizwan then swung away late towards the slips, with the ball passing the Pakistan keeper’s outside edge and smashing into the off-stump.
Long-time England teammate Stuart Broad later said of Anderson it would go down as “one of the best balls that he’ll bowl”.
“That’s unplayable,” Broad told Sky Sports. “I don’t know you lay bat on that.
“That’s Jimmy Anderson at his absolute best.”
A flabbergasted Rizwan stood at the wicket in disbelief for around 10 seconds after he was dismissed, watching Anderson celebrate with his England teammates after being bamboozled.
“A genius at work. Wow,” former Pakistan superstar Waqar Younis said in commentary.
“You could see that delivery again and again, especially delivering such a delivery on this surface – only Anderson can do that.”
Former Pakistan captain Urooj Mumtaz added: “That is absolute magic from the legend.”
Ex-England captain David Gower said the batter-friendly conditions made Anderson‘s feat even more remarkable.
“You can understand that if it was Trent Bridge with a covering of grass. But that’s an extraordinary delivery – a freak of a delivery – here,” Gower said.
Anderson’s fellow seamers joined the party too.
Ollie Robinson dismissed Babar Azam bowled after the Pakistan captain didn’t offer a shot to delivery that cut back in hard and late, before Mark Wood got through Shafique’s defence and hit the stumps to leave the home side at 3-83 chasing 355 runs.
Imam-ul-Haq, who didn‘t open but was cleared to bat after scans cleared him of significant hamstring damage, joined Saud Shakeel at the wicket to steady Pakistan’s run chase.
The home team was 3-136 at tea, needing another 219 runs with seven sessions remaining to level the three-match series.
No team has ever successfully chased more than 314 in Pakistan, a target reached by the home team against Australia in Karachi in 1994.
Poms in control against Pakistan | 01:08
Earlier, spinner Abrar Ahmed took 11 wickets for 234 across the two innings — the second best by a bowler on debut for Pakistan, behind Mohammad Zahid’s 11-130 against New Zealand in Rawalpindi 26 years ago.
Harry Brook top-scored with 108 in England’s 275 all out.
Brook smashed spinner Mohammad Nawaz for his 14th boundary to complete his second century of the series, having notched 153 runs in the first Test.
He also struck a six before being caught off spinner Zahid Mahmood, who took 3-52.
England resumed at 202-5 and added 73 runs before folding an hour before lunch. Ben Stokes made 41 and added 101 for the sixth wicket with Brook before England lost their last five wickets for just 19 runs.
Ahmed’s second innings figures were 4-120
— with AFP
