Brendon McCullum denied that his England side have been found out on spinning pitches, as Pakistan’s captain Shan Masood confirmed he is hoping for another turner in the series decider in Rawalpindi.
Pakistan radically overhauled their strategy between the first and second Tests in Multan, making four changes to their side including the addition of three spinners, and deciding to use the same pitch for a second week in a row. The ploy paid off handsomely, with Sajid Khan and Noman Ali sharing 20 wickets to set up a series-levelling 152-run win.
England scored 657 in 101 overs in their most recent Test in Rawalpindi two years ago and the venue has generally been more conducive to seam bowlers than spinners since it returned to hosting Tests in 2019. But the PCB’s groundstaff have already started work on the surface ahead of Thursday’s decider, and Masood has requested a “drier” pitch.
“I would,” Masood said, when asked directly if he would like to see the ball turn in the third Test. “I don’t know if I’ve seen it turn in Rawalpindi. That’s another issue. You want a side that can win anywhere… We want to get 20 wickets wherever we play, and we want to back that up with the bat.
“I don’t think there’s an autumn in Pakistan. There’s a summer that transitions into a winter, so we’re still hoping that the sun can play its part and the wicket can be on the drier side… The groundsmen are already there. They’re working on a Test-match pitch and we’ll try to create a good Test wicket where both teams can pick up 20 wickets.”
Masood spoke ahead of the first Test about his desire for Pakistan to play on pitches which brought their seamers into play, but the decision to rest Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah from the final two Tests suggests a green-top is unlikely. McCullum, England’s coach, predicted that the surface will be “the antithesis of the green seamer” for the decider.
“I actually don’t mind,” McCullum said. “That’s one of the great aspects of playing cricket all around the world, right? You’re challenged in different conditions and home teams should have home benefit. I like that about the game. We said right at the outset that we’ll try to adapt to whatever conditions we come up against.
“We were very realistic about how difficult this challenge would be and that there could be some extreme conditions confronting us at some stage. Winning the first Test probably hastened that process, but we have no complaints so far. We were outplayed in this game. We’ll see what Rawalpindi’s got to offer and we’ll try and adapt accordingly.”
Masood said that Pakistan’s challenge is to learn how to take 20 wickets at each of their home venues. “I don’t think we can go to a strategy where we go, ‘Oh, we have to have a spinning wicket everywhere,'” he said. “You have to know the characteristics of your ground and your soil to be a good Test team… It’s not an overnight process.”
McCullum, however, is anticipating “a little bit more rough” in Rawalpindi that England encountered two years ago, and said that Rehan Ahmed could “potentially” come into the mix for selection if that proves to be the case: “We’ll have a look around it, come up with our tactics and see what’s going to be required to give ourselves the best chance of nabbing the series win.”
England’s 152-run defeat in the second Test in Multan was their fifth loss out of seven on the subcontinent this year, after their 4-1 loss in India. With spinners playing a significant role in all five of those Tests, McCullum was asked whether he felt as though his side had been found out on turning pitches.
“Maybe. I don’t know,” he said. “If we had won the toss and then got a few more runs, would the result have been different? I don’t know. It’s hard to make that assessment. But I know these guys play spin very well. Yes, we’ve been beaten a few times, but we weren’t the only team to go to India and get beaten by India in spinning conditions.
“And we’ve got a pretty good record here [in Pakistan]. Even that Test match we won in India, that was probably the most extreme of the spinning conditions. I don’t know: we’ll find out. I certainly don’t mind if it spins in the next one. I think we’ve got the artillery to be able to handle it, but we’ll find out.”
McCullum also defended their aggressive approach with the bat during the second Test. “We saw in this Test match that so many wickets fell to people trying to hang in there. It was those that were prepared to be brave enough to sweep, reverse-sweep, put the opposition under pressure, who were actually able to score runs. And in a low-scoring contest, those runs proved valuable.”
Matt Roller is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. @mroller98
