Pakistan vs England: England's frugality was crucial for the second Test win
Despite the Test series against Pakistan having very little at stake for England, they sure managed to make it an entertaining watch for fans and neutrals alike.
Mark Wood's Brilliant second-innings spell handed England the series.After winning the first Test at Rawalpindi in thrilling fashion, they sealed the series with a win in Multan – again in exciting style.
The Test match appeared lost. Pakistan was at 290-5 when they lost Mohammad Nawaz and were suddenly six wickets down.
But given they only needed 65 runs at that point, it seemed like the match was still very much in favour of the hosts – until it wasn't, thanks to their capitulation and Mark Wood's excellent spell.
Yet one of the main reasons for England managing to get a win was their ability to control the economy rate – both with the bat and the ball.
"This (wicket) was another challenge presented to us, with it being more in the slower bowlers' favour than last week, but how our batters went out and applied themselves in tricky conditions was fantastic," Ben Stokes told Sky Sports after the match.
"We kept the scoreboard ticking over the way we wanted to, even though wickets were falling.
"It showed yet again how versatile our bowling line-up is. Bowlers can bowl well in England with favourable conditions, but to come here and do what our team has done over the first two matches is seriously impressive on slow, docile wickets."
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">8️⃣ wins from 9️⃣ Tests under the coach and skipper 👏<br><br>We're on to something good.<br><br>🇵🇰 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PAKvENG?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PAKvENG</a> 🏴 <a href="https://t.co/NGboizaTTF">pic.twitter.com/NGboizaTTF</a></p>— England Cricket (@englandcricket) <a href="https://twitter.com/englandcricket/status/1602225498532319232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 12, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
A quick look at how England went about their innings with the bat points to precisely what Stokes meant.
They may have only made 281 in their first innings, but they got those runs in 51.4 overs – meaning they scored at a run rate of 5.44 in the first innings.
By comparison, Pakistan scored 202 before being dismissed, but they only managed to get those runs in 62.5 overs – meaning they scored at a slower run rate of 3.21.
This gave the England players more time to craft a more significant total in the second innings and ensure they kept enough time in the Test to make the Pakistan team feel like they had a chance of chasing it down.
It's one thing chasing down a target of over 350, but it's another to do so in the space of 2 and a half days. As a batting team, you know you have time to get the runs – but it also leaves the team bowling enough time to get you out.
That happened here, as Pakistan managed to do the hard work. Saud Shakeel scored an excellent 94, and Imam-ul-Haq a gritty 60 despite being injured.
Mohammad Nawaz and Agha Salman also contributed with handy scores of 45 and 20, respectively. But once England changed tack, the Pakistan team fell apart.
This partly owed to England's aggressive intent up front in the Test match – and will only further strengthen their belief in the principles of 'Bazball'.