England’s prospects of forcing a series-halving win at Sharjah Cricket Stadium were boosted by a fine day with the ball, but could yet hinge on the results of a medical appointment for Ben Stokes on Monday.
The England all-rounder was left writhing in pain on the outfield in the evening session after landing awkwardly while diving to attempt a catch.
After treatment on the field, he was led back to the dressing room with his shirt wrapped around his arm as a makeshift sling. The precautions being taken seemed to suggest he might have dislocated his right shoulder.
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He will have an MRI scan on Day 2 to assess the extent of any damage caused. It appears certain he will be unable to bowl again in the match – and possibly an extended period thereafter, too.
Whether he can hold a bat adequately enough to make some contribution to what could be a low scoring Test – relative to what has gone before – may prove vital.
Thanks to the heroics of James Anderson and Stuart Broad, the tourists bowled Pakistan out for 234 on the opening day.
Between them, England’s new-ball attack took six for 30 in 28.1 overs. Given the pronounced turn on offer on an uncharacteristically sporting first day wicket in Sharjah, it really should have been the spin bowlers who were the difference between the sides.
“Any time you get 10 wickets in a day in Test cricket you are delighted,” Broad said.
“No-one knows if 234 is a good score because it did turn quite considerably today, and the outfield is amazingly slow.
“If we have a good day with the bat tomorrow, it makes today an excellent day.”
Paul Radley’s session-by-session report
Broad said the first concern of the England players when they returned to the dressing room was Stokes.
“We all walked in straight away to try and find him,” Broad said. “He is a tough guy, so generally when he shows pain he is going to be sore.
“It was an amazing effort to try to take the catch. The outfield is very soft so he landed awkwardly on it. It is hard to speculate what it is, but when he shows pain he is generally pretty sore.
“He is down. Hopefully he can play a bit more of a part in this Test match, because he is a vital cog in our machine – but we do have cover with bat and ball, so we do have options if he can’t.”
A rare off day for Pakistan’s top order was held together by the evergreen Misbah-ul-Haq.
The captain used his tried and tested method of blocking out the seamers, then savaging the slow bowlers, before he perished to Anderson for 71.
“Jimmy and Broady bowled very well, which is fair enough, but there were times when we made little wrong decisions in the batting,” Mustaq Ahmed, Pakistan’s spin bowling coach, said.
“That cost us. Sometimes when your top seven are doing very well, scoring lots of runs, they take chances. You think, ‘Hang on, is this the way you play cricket?’
“Sometimes you have to see the conditions and adapt yourself to that situation. That is what Test cricket is all about.”
pradley@thenational.ae
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