England has produced a famous 74-run Test victory at Rawalpindi, thanks to Ben Stokes’ bold declaration and five wickets in a thrilling final session.
After England scored the most runs on the first day of a Test in cricket history, a result looked unlikely, and especially after their 657 was followed by Pakistan’s 579 on one of the flattest wickets in recent history.
But a brave call from Stokes to declare at 264-7 ensured there was a chance of a result and things went down to the wire on day five – in the end, in England’s favour, barely 10 minutes before it got too dark to play.
“That is one of the greatest Test match victories you will ever see,” commentator Nasser Hussain proclaimed.
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MATCH CENTRE: Day 5 at Rawalpindi scorecard, videos and more
Root uses left-hand to have a bat! | 00:41
The 1768 runs was the most runs ever in a five-day Test, and the third-most overall, behind two timeless Tests – South Africa v England 1939 at Durban (1981 runs), and 1815 in West Indies v England 1930 at Kingston (1815 runs).
Pakistan went into the final session in an excellent position, needing 86 runs with five wickets in hand.
But two quick-fire Ollie Robinson wickets – plus one delivery that hit the stumps but did not dislodge the bails – then put the tourists on top.
Robinson DENIED by sticky bails | 00:28
A spectacular Ollie Pope catch and an LBW that survived the review gave James Anderson two quick-fire wickets, putting Pakistan with one wicket left and around 45 minutes of daylight.
The last wicket was there for the taking when Naseem Shah edged one behind but Pope and Joe Root each stepped back to let the other go for it, instead watching it go past them for a boundary.
The English tried desperately to find the final wicket with every fielder surrounding the batsmen, and Stokes almost sprinting back to take his run-up.
In the end after taking the new ball, and after some 30 minutes of defence from Shah and Mohammad Ali, it was Jack Leach who got the decisive wicket via LBW, the last-ditch review from Pakistan not finding any success.
England are on their first Test tour of Pakistan since 2005, having declined to visit in the interim years on security grounds.
The second Test is in Multan from December 9-13, and the third in Karachi from December 17-21.