Test cricket cannot afford for this pitch to continue playing in the same way for all five days. It is incredibly flat and, for the future of the longer format, pitches need to do something.
At the moment, it has done nothing for two days. No spin, no swing, no reverse swing. It is too batter-friendly and Test cricket needs an even contest between bat and ball.
You cannot afford 600 plays 500 plays 400, and then a draw. The crowds here in Multan are already sparse and, if it is like this for five days, soon nobody will come in.
That said, things can change very quickly in this part of the world and you have to be careful as a team not to presume the pitch is going to stay flat and that the game is drifting.
There are still three sunny days ahead, which will hopefully have an impact on the surface. The pitch has got cracks in it and, while it has done nothing from those so far, it might deteriorate as the sun beats down.
Test cricket cannot afford to have flat pitches which offer no contest between bat and ballÂ
Crowds have already been sparse for the Test and will get worse if it is like this for five days
We have seen in Pakistan before that a game can go at a certain pace and look like it’s doing nothing, then on the last day the pitch starts to do something and suddenly a team are under pressure in their second innings.
You’ve got to put yourself in a position to pounce if those cracks widen and the surface starts to spin or produce some uneven bounce.
England’s job is to get as close as possible to Pakistan’s total and make that third innings difficult for the opposition.
Under the circumstances, I thought England went about their task on Tuesday as well as they did on Monday. Only in the 15 minutes either side of tea did they look exhausted and a bit ragged, with Jamie Smith missing a regulation stumping and Gus Atkinson dropping a catch.
The bowlers kept going pretty well given it was gun-barrel straight for the 149 overs they were in the field.
To have no reverse swing so far is a huge disappointment. The outfield is lush and green, so the ball is not being sufficiently scuffed, unlike the last time that England toured here.
In that series, some of Ben Stokes’s captaincy was exceptional because he would be defensive and wait for that reverse swing to come. Then he, Mark Wood, Jimmy Anderson and Ollie Robinson all got it reversing brilliantly. So I felt for Ollie Pope and England’s bowlers.
On this surface, you’ve got to bowl straighter, back of a length and try to catch batsmen lbw or bowl them. There are not going to be too many caught in the slips.
The pitch has offered no spin, no swing, no reverse swing during the first two days of play
When there is no lateral movement, England’s Zak Crawley is a very dangerous player
When there is no lateral movement, batters can just hit through the line and, when it’s like that, Zak Crawley is a very dangerous player.
Some of the boundaries he hit through the off side yesterday were from balls other openers would play off the back foot or block or leave alone.
But Crawley just gets on the front foot with high hands and hits at the top of the bounce. There is not a lot the bowler can do. If they go shorter to him, he just short-arm jabs it away. Your margin for error to Crawley on a pitch like this is minuscule.
Abrar Ahmed got Crawley out three times on the last tour, but Zak is picking him better this time. The opener played brilliantly yesterday and the break that he had at the end of the summer has put him in a really good place.
