29th round: England 91-7 (Atkinson 9, Rehan Ahmed 1) Gus Atkinson hits a reverse sweep for four, Rehan cuts away to score. England lead by 14 runs.

How is your morning going?

28th over: England 85-7 (Atkinson 4, Rehan Ahmed) The players take drinks with them. Pakistan’s first hour, I guess.

WICKET! Joe Root c Mohammad Rizwan b Noman Ali 33 (England 85-7)

I’m still trying to find a clip of Ben Stokes’ wicket complete with confusing farewell. To be safe, here’s Jamie Smith:

27th over: England 79-6 (Root 28, Atkinson 3) Sajid Khan to Root. Penny for his thoughts. On a swept single, the more experienced man maintains the swing.

“Will Tim de Lisle (LATER) have a day off soon?” Muses Tom in Guatemala. Ha! Tim and I exchanged emails last night about a possible handover time. It’s fair to say there was a touch of gallows humor.

26th over: England 78-6 (Root 27, Atkinson 3) Gus Atkinson hits two runs off his pads. England now lead by one run! You’re still thinking about the bad news, aren’t you?

“To Essaouira in Morocco.” Writes Andrew Sparrow. “I’ve just been woken up here by the call to prayer and I’m expecting more wickets, but it’s good to read that the Yorkies are fighting back.”

This email was sent approximately 12 minutes ago. A lot has happened since then.

25th over: England 76-6 (Root 26, Atkinson 1) Gus Atkinson comes and hits his first ball for a single. England are trailing by a run and are not dependent on an almighty wag of the tail and something special from Joe Root. Otherwise we’ll get out of here quickly.

WICKET! Jamie Smith v Sajid Khan 3 (England 75-6)

24th over: England 74-5 (Root 26, Smith 3) Point follows point. Noman Ali puts together a girl for Jamie Smith.

23rd over: England 74-5 (Root 26, Smith 3) Smith will need to repeat his first innings heroics if England are to have a chance here. He drives for three to open his account.

22nd over: England 70-5 (Root 25, Smith 0) Jamie Smith arrives and blanks Noman for four points as everyone comes to terms with what just happened.

“Morning Everyone” Here’s Rob Harper to give you some much-needed perspective…

“I was an on-call obstetrician at my local hospital overnight and spent the usual restless night on the sofa.

What a wonderful joy it was to watch this series. I enjoyed the record first-over blitz but there is nothing better than a close, low-scoring game, be it defending a score of 120 in club cricket or the second and third Tests here.”

WICKET! Ben Stokes lbw to Noman Ali 3 (England 70-5)

21st over: England 68-4 (Root 25, Stokes 1) Root cuts off his waist. Stokes is wide and tries to cover.

“Spending a 30th birthday weekend in dreary Matlock, assessing the benefits of more sleep rather than cricket,” writes Michael Robinson. “I wonder what will cause me more pain: England’s inevitable collapse and innings defeat or trying to get through today on five hours of sleep? At least the signal is patchy, so every flood of goals is slower for me.”

A lot of guys climbing the heights of Abraham, is it Mickey? Thank God.

20th over: England 66-4 (Root 24, Stokes 0) Ben Stokes arrives in the middle, he needs a score. His team needs him to score a goal.

WICKET! Harry Brook v Mohammad Rizwan v Noman Ali 26 (England 66-4)

19th over: England 65-3 (Root 23, Brook 23) Another decent over for England, six runs scored, no alarms and no surprises…

18th over: England 59-3 (Root 21, Brook 22) Shot! Root reverse sweeps Sajid Khan to four and each batter gets a single. My daughter is engrossed in “Stick Man” by my side. Everyone for themselves. I’m more of a Smed and Smoo type.

17th over: England 53-3 (Root 16, Brook 21) Brook struck out and collected three runs offside. Root sweeps are fine for a single. 50 points more for England, the deficit reduced to 24 runs.

16th over: England 48-3 (Root 14, Brook 18) Root clips for a single back square. This couple looks, I don’t want to say comfortable… lively. Let’s start with Sprightly.

15th over: England 47-3 (Root 13, Brook 18) Sajid Khan races through an over at warp speed. Does anyone think of the OBO writer? Just a root single from it.

Warp speed chic
Hair until then
Impressive mustache
Love Wickets came in a bottle with a screw cap

14th over: England 46-3 (Root 12, Brook 18) Root does an exceptionally good job of dropping his hands and fending off a grubber that shot towards his ankles in front of all three stumps. Phew. Brook gets the paddle sweep for a single. There is a cat-and-mouse game between bowler and batsman that permeates Test cricket.

13th over: England 43-3 (Root 11, Brook 16) Now Harry Brook goes on the offensive, beating Sajid Khan from cover and then hitting the ground in succession to reach the boundaries! Fall! On the next ball, Brook is tickled and the ball flies to short leg, but the close-in fielder can’t catch it! Here we go for Brook. Two more incorporated on the leg side ensure that the over is ten times better.

12th over: England 33-3 (Root 11, Brook 6) Root and Brook started diligently, taking advantage of the runs on offer and darting between the wickets. There are signs of a turnaround, but things are not quite at full speed at the moment. There are still runs out there, but you have to commit to it.

11th over: England 26-3 (Root 8, Brook 5) Sajid Khan from the other end. He stands up and says a few words to Root as the batsman works a single outside off into the leg side. Sajid lets it slide further and aims at the pads and stumps. England are desperate not to lose an early wicket and build a partnership. Collected two more singles.

Who’s out there? Write to us if you are one of the misty-eyed or distant followers this morning.

10th over: England 26-3 (Root 6, Brook 4) The sun is beating down in Rawalpindi and it looks like it will be a hotter day today. In any case, things are heating up for England… Brook blocks Noman Ali’s first ball of the day and then blasts a single into the offside. Close! Root is saved by an inside edge on his pad, which referee Chris Gaffaney spotted, and so did Shan Masood, who decided against a review. Root hits a single to the ground to keep the strike going.

Here we go, Harry Brook strikes Noman Ali. Let’s play!

Our man on the ground, Simon Burnton, sends a short letter:

“The entrance that the media uses here in Rawalpindi to enter the site is called Poultry Gate because it is in the middle of a large chicken farm and is accessed via a long single-lane road with large chicken coops on either side. It’s loud and smelly, but the birds themselves seem to be in good health. The headless chickens are in the ground.

Today we start early to make up for lost time. England’s problem is a lost cause.”

That being said, due to the early finish yesterday, the game starts in about five minutes. I really knew this, I was just testing it You…

preamble

James Wallace