There were times on the first day of the first Test against Pakistan that England must have hoped for help from the patron saint of taking wickets.
An inexperienced attack, the most docile pitch, sun burning hot enough to make statues sweat and a Pakistan captain determined to make up for 10 consecutive winless home matches.
This was as tough as it gets.
Still, England stood up. Despite skipper Shan Masood plundering 151, supported by Abdullah Shafique’s 102, the tourists stuck at it.
As the light faded and the second new ball shone, the gift of Babar Azam plonking his pad in front of the stumps was nothing more than England deserved.
At 328-4, Pakistan had the better of the day, but England’s smiles and high fives as they made their way to the dressing room showed they have taken something from it. A good start to day two and they will be right in the match.
There was a temptation to think that England could simply pick up where they left off here two years ago, when a 3-0 series win was perhaps the greatest ever in a foreign country not called Australia or India. It was certainly the peak of the Bazball era to date.
But there is plenty different to 2022. Despite their wretched run, Pakistan look stronger on paper than they did then. A subtle change is the time the series is being played. December then to October now doesn’t sound much, but the elevation in temperature is uncomfortable.
The biggest difference is the make-up of England’s pace attack. Gone are the retired James Anderson (more on him later), the injured Mark Wood and Ollie Robinson has been sent to Coventry.
In their place have come the notoriously travel-sick Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, a summer revelation but untried away from home, and Brydon Carse, untried anywhere and only just off completing a ban for historic gambling offences.
It was the seamers who were key to England’s previous success here. Whereas in 2022 the spinners largely matched each other – England’s took 33 wickets at an average of 37.3, Pakistan’s 35 wickets at 36.2 – the touring seamers comfortably out-bowled the hosts. England claimed 26 victims at 23.3, Pakistan just 11 at a whopping 62.7.
Some help from the toss would have been appreciated, but Ollie Pope has now lost four out of four standing-in for injured England skipper Ben Stokes. If England were looking for assistance from the pitch, they were left disappointed. Pre-match talk of grass was dashed by a mower on Monday morning.
A penny for the thoughts of Saim Ayub, who somehow tickled Atkinson’s 10th ball in an away Test down the leg side to wicketkeeper Jamie Smith. He had to watch Shafique and Masood plunder runs from the fourth over of the day until well after tea.
According to data analysts Cricviz, the Multan pitch was the second-flattest for day one of a Test anywhere in the world since they started collecting such information in 2007.
Across the three sessions, the 0.47 degrees of swing was the least amount of movement in the air for day one in Pakistan since the beginning of 2022.
If there was nothing to encourage the seamers, the spinners got little more. The 2.64 degrees of turn was the second-lowest for the opening day in this country over the same time period. Shoaib Bashir struggled – only once in his short Test career has he bowled more overs without taking a wicket - but Jack Leach impressed in his first Test since January.
Despite all of the disadvantages, England hung in. The fielding was never anything but wholehearted, the only error being Pope’s miss at the stumps when Shafique should have been run out on 34.
Aside from that, Pope did a fine job at recreating the creativity of Stokes that was crucial to England’s win in 2022.
Bowlers were shuffled, fields tinkered. Shafique’s eyeline was flooded with catchers in front of the bat and he eventually popped Atkinson to cover. Left-armer Leach toyed with his angles to come round the wicket to left-hander Masood and was rewarded with a return catch.
The only mild criticism was an over-eagerness to bowl bouncers, a favourite tactic of England. Carse, who touched 90mph, was asked to go to the short ball as early as the 15th over of the match.
Overall, 40% of the deliveries Carse sent down were bouncers, 61% short of a good length. It is a plan England often revert to for bowlers with extra pace. Jamie Overton bowled 34% bouncers in his only Test against New Zealand in 2022 and Olly Stone 33% in his two Tests against Sri Lanka earlier this year. Wood, albeit faster and more skilful than the other three, is not used as such a blunt instrument.
Perhaps the biggest boost for England was the late impact of Woakes. Quiet for most of the day, he grabbed the second new ball to produce a nip-backer that removed Pakistan’s best player in Babar. The UK is on its fifth different prime minister since Woakes’ previous Asian Test wicket in 2016.
It was a delivery worthy of Anderson, the absence of whom was made much of in the build-up to the Test.
England’s bowling consultant has been playing golf at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. When Anderson does arrive in time for day two, he will join a team that can be optimistic following their first-day showing.
In truth, unless England were going to ask Anderson to take the new ball, there seems little he could have passed on to the bowlers that would have made their job any easier.
In the City of Saints, England did just fine without Saint Jimmy.
