It was a day full of stop and starts- some forced by rain while others, well, forced by the rigidity of the system- as we lost a considerable number of overs- just like the first day- in the second Test between England and Pakistan at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton.
The second day’s start was delayed by an hour due to rain but when play did get underway, the duo of Babar Azam and Muhammad Rizwan proceeded to offer some calmness to the madness that had ensued in the post-Tea session on the opening day where Pakistan lost their last four wickets for 48 runs.
How important a wicket is this?#ENGvPAKpic.twitter.com/tKhl7UpvBB
— ICC (@ICC) August 14, 2020
England went past the outside edge multiple times but the duo ensured that Pakistan went into the Lunch break still five down, with 29 runs coming off the 15.2 overs bowled in the morning session. England bowlers found the ideal length after the break and the results soon ensued. Babar Azam fell three runs short of his second-half-century of the series thanks to a Stuart Broad jaffa; one that straightened off the seam just enough forcing Babar to nick off.
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Muhammad Rizwan’s counterattacking knock helps Pakistan get past 200 against England on day 02
https://twitter.com/iShahidHameed/status/1294299941318402049
The wicketkeeper-batsman notched up his second half-century even as his fellow partners continued to fall at the other end.
Shaheen Afridi did an Asad Shafiq as he went for a non-existent run before getting run-out by Dom Sibley and Mohammad Abbas was trapped right in front of the wickets by Stuart Broad immediately after the Tea Break before bad light once again brought a halt to the proceedings with the score reading 9-223.
Run out number 2️⃣ of the series for Dom Sibley 🎯 #ENGvPAKpic.twitter.com/5Xa2CLPJEm
— ICC (@ICC) August 14, 2020
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Here’s how Twitter reacted to the 2nd day’s play between England and Pakistan:
No more play today. We'll come back tomorrow.
Scorecard & Clips: https://t.co/hNCIb0Iklx#ENGvPAK pic.twitter.com/2g53yRXDny
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) August 14, 2020
Sarfaraz Ahmad after seeing Rizwan is performing. #Rizwan pic.twitter.com/GMQjRAD4pG
— Hubaib Ahmad (@HubaibA36976048) August 14, 2020
Babar Azam this series: 69, 5, 47. Glass Half full or Half empty? #EngvsPak
— Vikrant Gupta (@vikrantgupta73) August 14, 2020
The ball that got Mohammad Abbas out is exactly the ball he is going to get about 8 wickets with shortly
— Will Macpherson (@willis_macp) August 14, 2020
Unfamiliar territory for Pakistan. Usually in England they either have control of the game (300+) or are WAY behind (under 200) by end of the 1st inns
1st inns scores for teams touring 🏴 since 2009:
<200 : 29%
201-300 : 31%
300+ : 40%Pak
<200 : 46%
201-300 : 8%
300+ : 46%— Hassan Cheema (@mediagag) August 14, 2020
Attack on Karachi media https://t.co/AAna69dhoX
— Osman Samiuddin (@OsmanSamiuddin) August 14, 2020
Not only England. Tbh, he is taking the piss out of quite a few. https://t.co/bYRIc2DjYg
— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad) August 14, 2020
Grim down south …. Btw ….. isn’t it time to use the Pink ball in Tests ?? #OnOn #ENGvPAK
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) August 14, 2020
The great thing about test cricket is that you can correct yourself in breaks between sessions. Before lunch England bowled too much into the pads. Immediately after lunch, they were back bowling their classic line and the edges reappeared.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) August 14, 2020
When was the last when a test cricket played for 5 days in England without any rain interruption or bad light?? #frustating #weather#ENGvPAK #England
— Kishan Singh Chandel 🇮🇳 (@imchandela) August 14, 2020
As if we haven’t lost time in the game already..#ENGvPAK
— zainab abbas (@ZAbbasOfficial) August 14, 2020
Typically wonderful Pak cricket. Batsman protects tailender by keeping him at the other end. Tailender gets out at that end. #ENGVPAK
— Danyal Rasool (@Danny61000) August 14, 2020
The last 10 Tests Pakistan have played in England, Rizwan is the only wicket-keeper batsman to score a 50. #EngvPak
— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad) August 14, 2020
Mohammad Rizwan's knock has now officially been upgraded from Useful Runs™ to Valuable Runs™
— Ben Jones (@benjonescricket) August 14, 2020
Extremely important innings by Rizwan here, not only for Pakistan but for himself. Confidence booster.
— Abdul Ghaffar (@GhaffarDawnNews) August 14, 2020
A really sensible knock by @iMRizwanPak – batting well with the tail & done well to give Pakistan these bonus runs #engvpak
— zainab abbas (@ZAbbasOfficial) August 14, 2020
Cricket really is an incredibly frustrating sport still stuck in its old ways of inflexibility
The work that has gone on to get Cricket on is remarkable and yet the inability to be flexible with regards to the bad light is so disappointing #badlight #ENGvPAK
— TheCricketGuy (@Tim32_cricket) August 14, 2020
One gutsy effort!
Brilliant 50 Mohammad Rizwan 👏👏 pic.twitter.com/gIhuc2g2xx— Emmad Hameed (@Emmad81) August 14, 2020
Stuart Broad has 34 wickets at 14.32 this year.
Since 2000, only one man has had a calendar year where he took that many wickets at a better average than Broad – that was when Mohammad Abbas took 38 wickets at 13.76, back in 2018.#ENGvPAK
— The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst) August 14, 2020