England need 277 to win first Test against Pakistan: day four – live!

29th over: England 70-1 (Sibley 32, Root 26) Abbas again, and Root edges short! Oh, so nearly gone. He tries to flick that through the leg side and gets a leading edge. Azhar Ali has even put in two gullies for Root, and somehow it goes square of the closer one, and drops short of the deeper one. That’s a slice of luck for England’s skip. Rattled, he plays out a maiden to the accurate Abbas.

28th over: England 70-1 (Sibley 32, Root 26) Width from Yasir again, and Sibley reaches for it and steers it away through backward point for four! He hasn’t been completely one-paced today, a run every three balls is alright for Sibley. Been a very important presence thus far for England.

27th over: England 66-1 (Sibley 28, Root 26) The cut shot from Root doesn’t work in this over, a big chop off the under-edge to gully.

David Wynne tells me that there’s a brief article on German cricket in a new online mag called Vox Cricket, here.

26th over: England 65-1 (Sibley 27, Root 26) Yasir is still just reaching a little bit, landing wide of off-stump on occasion, full on occasion. He’s really putting some work on the ball, I’ll bet you can hear it humming as it comes down the pitch. The seam is fizzing around. Sibley squeezes a run last ball to midwicket, but it’s almost a leading edge.

The partnership is worth 43, this has been important.

25th over: England 64-1 (Sibley 26, Root 26) Another positive shot from Root, cutting through backward point with just a bit of width. Abbas gets buzzed for a no-ball by the third umpire a couple of balls later. It’s good that England and Pakistan took the initiative to get the third umpire onto that job in this series, even though it won’t be brought into other Tests until next year unless those respective boards decide to make it happen.

24th over: England 59-1 (Sibley 26, Root 22) Yasir nearly bowls Sibley first of the over, a straighter ball that turns a little but not much. Sibley leaves and it passes his off stump. Next up, a big turner and Sibley is given out. Didn’t look like he hit that, Rizwan’s appeal was more angst about how close it was. Richard Kettleborough has had a funny time lately, usually one of the best going around. He took a really long time to give that out. Rizwan was looking at the sky, Yasir was appealing, and like an afterthought Kettleborough popped his finger skyward. Sibley reviews and it’s missed his edge by a decent amount. To complete the trio, Sibley aims a big cut shot at a shorter ball and misses it completely.

23rd over: England 59-1 (Sibley 26, Root 22) Abbas to start after lunch, and he absolutely confounds Root with a beauty. So close to the outside edge. The cordon all appealed but Abbas didn’t think he’d hit it. Root tries to be proactive in response, walking at Abbas and whipping him through midwicket for four. He’s looked good today, Root.

And why not a plug from Oliver Smiddy.

“Independent sports shops have obviously been hit very hard by Covid-19. I bought some new cricket spikes from Beckenham Cricket Specialists yesterday – it’s a lovely little shop owned and run by a chap who also does bat repairs and really knows his stuff. If any OBOers in the SE are in need of any new kit, please support shops like this rather than buying from big online chains. They’ve got a sale on, and you can order via their website too. I’m in no way connected to them – I’ve been shopping there since I was a nipper though (my first bat was an SS like Gooch’s i think, and later a Gray Nicholls Scoop) and the service has always been ace.”

Cricket in Germany: Tilo has got back to Nathaniel’s question.

“As the exest of pats I cannot comment too well on cricket in Germany, but it is said to be the fastest growing sport apparently, albeit from a small base. Many articles describe how most of it is driven by the intake of refugees, amongst them many from Afghanistan that brought their passion along. I think the national team keeper was an Aussie who went to Germany for love. There were also semi-successful tries to recruit county players with German heritage, like Ollie Rayner. Also a large influx of Indians working in Tech and IT are helping the drive. In women’s cricket it is more driven by the association trying to get homegrown girls interested, so the demographic is quite different, even though a wickie of Indian background played in the recent men’s T10 league, I think. The twitter accounts are good for info.”

Cricket Germany.

Golden Eagles.

They’re a full Richie Benaud from victory. Quite the session. Pakistan’s tail came out and crashed 32 more runs in three overs and lost two wickets. They’ve bowled beautifully for the most part, especially Abbas and Naseem with their spells of pace. Shaheen was a little bit off the boil with the new ball, while Yasir is shredding it but bowling too full. England have lost the one wicket but otherwise been able to buckle down and get through it.

“Thanks for keeping us in the picture, Geoff. Riveting,” writes Bill Hargreaves. Glad to be of service. “Would a first test win for Pakistan, as seems customary in these times, make for a better series, or am I being contentious?”

It would definitely light the series up. I think given Pakistan’s batting and England’s bowling, there’ll surely be at least one innings where the visitors fall over. So if they manage to go ahead at the first opportunity then things should be much more competitive. We saw much the same with the West Indies series.

Lunch. Have a sandwich. See you shortly.

22nd over: England 55-1 (Sibley 26, Root 18) Yasir is bowling outside off a fair bit, and they’re happy to push singles through cover, both batsmen. Sibley picks the wrong ‘un when it pitches short, and goes back on his stumps to flick a run square. Root just taps a run a few metres from the bat. Sensible stuff. That’s lunch.

21st over: England 51-1 (Sibley 24, Root 16) This is a rarity in modern cricket: two legspinners working in tandem. Shadab Khan comes on for his first over of the innings, after 2 for 13 from very limited bowling in the first. There’ll be more work for him this late in the match. He bowls a lot more googlies than Yasir, and employs a couple to Sibley, but also dishes him up a full toss that the batsman can just clip neatly for three. Root leaves a leg-break that doesn’t turn much and doesn’t miss his off stump by much.

20th over: England 47-1 (Sibley 21, Root 15) Lovely flight for Yasir, and drift, still pitching a bit too full to Root, dropping near the blockhole without room for turn. The real error comes second ball though when he bowls a low full toss, and Root loves the sweep shot. Four. Yasir corrects that length for the next couple, but slips again to let Root drive a single to cover. The wrong ‘un doesn’t come out right to Sibley.

19th over: England 42-1 (Sibley 21, Root 10) Good shot from Sibley, opens the face and just directs the ball down past gully along the ground for four. Root has been batting pretty nicely with singles whenever possible. Naseem has 0-10 from his first five overs.

“So far so good, but waiting for the inevitable 3 quick wickets is reminiscent of the dentist’s waiting room…”

Faith, Charles Sheldrick.

18th over: England 37-1 (Sibley 17, Root 9) Yasir again with big turn when he wants to show off what he can do, then he goes straighter to Root when he wants to test him out, make him play. Bowls a bit full for Root to dig out a single, then there’s a push back past the bowler by Sibley but he can’t score.

17th over: England 36-1 (Sibley 17, Root 8) Nicks one, Sibley, but survives! It falls short of Rizwan. The folks on the telly reckon the whole slip cordon is too deep. A proper edge there, just died in front of the keeper. Next ball nearly nails Sibley on the pad but he gets an inside edge. Good over.

16th over: England 35-1 (Sibley 17, Root 7) Huuuuuge turn for Yasir once or twice in that over when he gives it a rip. Bowling nice and slow, 50 miles per hour at times. Landing them well. Just a single to cover.

15th over: England 34-1 (Sibley 17, Root 6) What a delivery from Naseem! Produces the ball of the day for Sibley, and it nearly takes the shoulder of the bat as it seams off a length and bounds off the pitch through to Rizwan. Sensational, coming from that mini-Lillee action that he has. Sibley breathes deep and bats through a maiden.

14th over: England 34-1 (Sibley 17, Root 6) Yasir Shah on for a first roll. Three singles from the over, and Root misses a cut and nearly feathers it behind.

“A send off. At long last some spikiness,” writes Digvijay Yadav of the Burns dismissal. “Think Root gave one to Asad Shafiq after he was run out.”

13th over: England 31-1 (Sibley 15, Root 5) Pace from Naseem! Getting up into the high 80s as he warms up, zooms a ball past Root’s bat. Contrary to his last over the ball is flying through to Rizwan. Root mistimes a back-foot push, clunking it into the ground off the bottom edge. Gets a flick away for a boundary though, too straight again.

Here’s an OBO hello to Kamal Mann. “Like you, I am based in Melbourne too (Brunswick). Following your OBO report. Keep up the great work. It’s going to be a thrilling finish.” I love Brunswick, not there right now but it has been home for a lot of my life. The top of Sydney Road, before the slope down to Blyth Street – top of the world.

12th over: England 27-1 (Sibley 15, Root 1) A quick start as young Giuseppe Root ticks his first ball wide of mid-on for a run. Abbas bowls too straight to Sibley who immediately flicks him for four! That’s great batting, he’s been tied down all day but as soon as the chance came at a boundary ball, he took it.

“OBO is clearly following the England policy of rotation, which keeps life fresh and interesting. But, having had a brief exchange with Daniel on Thursday about the greatest Bob, I have been polishing my piece about Bob Dylan and cricket, and now Daniel’s buggered off! When will he return?”

I can’t tell you that, Richard Hirst. All I know is that Tim DL is the Charles to my Elizabeth today, waiting for his time at last.

It was a matter of time! Abbas has been relentless today, constantly nagging away. Wobble seam again from around the wicket, seaming in. It hit him above the pad, but on the back leg which is angled down the way that Burns steps forwards. In front of middle, and the DRS review shows it as umpire’s call at the top of middle stump. Abbas gets the first incision!

11th over: England 22-0 (Burns 10, Sibley 11) Naseem Shah arrives, the young quick, and there are tricks in this pitch! One ball almost crawls through the Rizwan. The next takes a big chunk of dirt out of the surface, pops up high, then drops as it nears the keeper. Very erratic. Worrisome for England. A maiden.

10th over: England 22-0 (Burns 10, Sibley 11) The only problem with scoring those three runs is that Sibley is back on strike to Abbas, who immediately gets his outside edge just wide of Shadab at gully. Four runs. Three slips. They’ve got an extremely short, straight mid-off now. Not near the non-striker, as is usual, but halfway down the pitch and just to the side of it. Right in his eyeline. Sibley crabs across to squeeze a run to square leg. Goes past Burns in the run chase, the race of the tortoise and the tortoise.

They need 255 more to win.

“Morning. I see Young Jonny Bairstow is now no longer batting for Yorkshire. Well done, Notts!”

Haha, oh dear. Thanks to Young Johnny Starbuck.

9th over: England 17-0 (Burns 10, Sibley 6) Shaheen continues, though Naseem is warming up. How many Shahs have we got on this ship? They’re like Australia’s Mitchells or India’s Sharmas. Sibley gets forward to drive the last of the over for three, through cover. Positive shot.

Nathaniel Goodden has a request.

“Can Tilo Fobes (2nd over) enlighten us about cricket in Germany? A few years ago, cycling along the banks of the Elbe through the outskirts of Dresden, I was delighted (no, more than that – astonished and equally delighted) to spot a group of Pakistanis (I think) padding up for some serious-looking practice. I’d never been in Dresden before so was caught between wanting to stop, watch and find out more, and hitting the city. I’m afraid the city won, and my appreciation of cricket in Germany remains tantalisingly uninformed. I think it was a Saturday, definitely August, and was beautifully sunny. Just what Saturdays are for!”

8th over: England 14-0 (Burns 10, Sibley 3) Abbas remarks his run and comes around the wicket for his first shot at the left-hander. What’s that? There’s even a little smile on his face as he runs in! He’s keen for this. The whole Pakistani cordon goes up in chatter and praise as he lands on one a postage stamp outside Burns’ off stump. A judicious leave, this time. A block the next. Abbas working him across the crease with a third, pulling the batsman wide. Another maiden.

“There’s a steely-eyed determination beneath the rim of Burns’ helmet today, somewhat reminiscent of Lee Van Cleef in those spaghetti westerns. He knows that Clint Eastwood is the star. He knows he’s going to get his comeuppance at some stage. But in the meantime he’s going to do as much damage as he possibly can.”

Dean Kinsella has clearly eaten some psychedelic mould that grew on his bread.

7th over: England 14-0 (Burns 10, Sibley 3) Shaheen against Sibley for the first time today, working him both sides of the wicket, harder for the left-armer to get a line against the right-hander sometimes. No run from the over.

“Can I just say as someone over the age of 40 how dispiriting it was to hear that 38 year old Jimmy’s misfields we’re down to age.” I feel you, Nick.

6th over: England 14-0 (Burns 10, Sibley 3) Mohammad Abbas! He allows himself a groan of frustration finally, like someone opening the ice-cream tub at 3am only to find it empty. He angles in at Sibley and seams away, the ball sailing over the off bail, then the next goes past the edge by a fraction. This is some spell on a surface beginning to look like a digestive biscuit (sans chocolate). A bit too straight from the last ball and Sibley is able to glance a run, changing up the combinations as to who will face who.

“Morning Geoff,” blasts David Horn from the battlements. “I see that YJB is at the crease already for Yorkshire today. What price a century & a recall vs. an awkward 25 from Buttler? Although I don’t know how playing for Yorkshire affects his biosecure availability.”

Young Jonny Bairstow versus Young Jos Buttler. In-ter-est-ing.

5th over: England 13-0 (Burns 10, Sibley 2) Shaheen is mixing up his delivery point, coming wider on the crease sometimes to angle in at Burns. Still getting swing. Another couple of runs as Shan Masood misfields at backward point, Burns getting his runs consistently just by reaching for the ball. He prods a bump ball next on the bounce into the cordon. Some puffs of dust coming up already as the ball lands. Maybe Yasir Shah should be bowling into that already. There has been serious turn on offer.

“I loved Nassem’s gloriously wild agricultural yahoo when he got bowled,” writes in Tom van der Gucht. “It’s the kind of shot I regularly used to play as a lad, inspired by Botham but achieving similar results to what we just saw now, but the sort of shot we rarely see in Test cricket these days where even tail enders are coached a decent defensive technique.”

It was fun this morning. My prediction that they would be out quickly was pretty accurate, it just happened to come after 32 runs.

4th over: England 11-0 (Burns 8, Sibley 2) Can’t look away from this. I mean, I’d get fired if I did, but I’d be doing this voluntarily. Sibley collects a couple of runs from Abbas touched to midwicket, but Abbas comes back with a couple of pearlers. Into the pads with just a bit of willow saving Sibley from an appeal, no idea where that was. Then the next goes the other way and zips past his edge. Abbas with that perfect length, wobble seam, going either way. What a bowler he is.

3rd over: England 9-0 (Burns 8, Sibley 0) More swing and bounce for Shaheen, this is exciting already. The gap at cover has been plugged already, only two slips. Not sure what to think about that one. Burns picks the smaller gap between cover and point for another two runs, just pushing the ball. Third umpire picks up a no-ball. Good carry from Shaheen from the replacement delivery, Rizwan taking that gloves-up from a length. Shaheen aims for the pads but he’s a bit short and it doesn’t come back, so Burns can glance a boundary fine. He’s got a habit of scrapping runs when he needs to.

A message to Kim Thonger from Arabella Lyons: “Not the same thing I know but Kim can watch the match on live stream – available when play begins either club’s website!”

2nd over: England 2-0 (Burns 2, Sibley 0) Abbas versus Sibley, the pairing who in the first innings gave us one of the funniest DRS reviews ever taken. Smashed in front of off stump, hitting halfway up middle, to a player caught on the crease. “What do you think, Joe, should I send that one up?” He survives unscathed for this over as Abbas works tightly on the off stump for the whole set.

Tilo Fobes writes in, one of the foremost German cricket fans in the world (yes, there are some).

“Regarding the highest chased totals, I get that it can be meaningless from a statistician’s perspective. But, the other reached totals do not take in account the totals scored in the first three innings of those matches. What matters is that so far one team managed to score over 250 on this current pitch. So saying that there are 4th innings in which 300 was reached at OT are just as meaningless if the average innings score of those matches was higher than this. Anyway, nicely poised test, especially as I prefer a batting collapse over a bowling collapse as they are just funnier.”

I wonder who he’s supporting today?

1st over: England 2-0 (Burns 2, Sibley 0) We’re ready to go. And it is sah-wing, bowler bowler bowler. Rory Burns doesn’t move the blade to a wide one but Shaheen Shah Afridi gets serious curl away from him. Left-armer versus left-hander, Burns still getting his front foot way across outside off stump in the way that brought him undone in the first innings. Had a similar one against the Windies too, a couple of ankle-taps in front of middle stump.

He reaches for the second ball to block it, blocks the third on his stumps. Three slips, gully. Cover is open with a point and a mid-off. He picks that gap to punch two runs. Shaheen won’t mind given how far the batsman had to stretch for it. More swing from Shaheen as the ball straightens down the line of off stump and Burns is behind it.

Speaking of small sample sizes earlier, Tim de Lisle has slipped a note under my quarantine door to point out that England only ever chased once before at Old Trafford against Pakistan. Tresco made a ton, Atherton made 51, but no one else outscored Darren Gough’s 23. They made 261 chasing 370, with Wasim, Waqar, Saqlain, and Abdul Razzak sharing the wickets. Pretty handy attack for Pakistan today, too…

Three wickets to Broad, aptly matching figs of 2 for 11 for Stokes and Woakes. Archer and Bess one apiece, none for Jimmy who had a catch dropped yesterday.

A couple of interesting points emailed by David Murray.

“While it’s a bit difficult to complain too much about Root’s captaincy yesterday because several of his decisions seemed to come off, his underuse of Woakes remains bizarre. If Broad had come into the attack the way Woakes did yesterday, taking two wickets and looking the best bowler on the day, he would probably have been allowed to finish the opposition off, or at least brought back instead of a supposedly unfit Stokes.”

There was a lot of this during the Ashes last year as well.

David also mentions “the rampant ageist criticism of Anderson by several pundits. Just give the new ball to the best bowlers, why bring his age into it? There were several misfields on a hot day but, with dubious logic, his apparently can be put down to age. One mediocre day and suddenly he’s a has-been again.”

We’re often not very inventive with our coverage on sport, are we? The youngster, the speedster, the veteran. The underdog, the redemption tale. Hitting back at the critics. Blah, blah. You’ll never guess how old Naseem Shah is? No one mentions it.

46.4 overs: Pakistan 169 all out (Abbas 3 not out) Mohammad Abbas wants to join the party to start this final over. He has a heave so huge at Archer that he almost literally swings himself off his feet. The ball skews over cover for two runs. A much neater shot off the pads gets a single, and that’s smart running, just dropped to midwicket where there was a man stationed but the two Pakistani bowlers were both off and running immediately. A bouncer to Naseem, which he hooks and misses but gets shoulder on it for four leg byes. Archer cleans him up with the next ball.

That’s 32 runs added this morning for Pakistan, they would absolutely have accepted that for an offer. England must chase 277 to win.

Straight and full, Naseem tries to launch again and gets nowhere near it. Timber.

46th over: Pakistan 162-9 (Abbas 0, Naseem 4) One ball to come in the over, nine wickets down, Broad with 500 and however many wickets, and Naseem first ball just shuffles to leg side a bit and smacks a near yorker straight back over Broad’s head for four! The lead is 270!

More like Yes Sir, Shah, for the first few balls of this over. He’s absolutely smoked the first. Stuart Broad’s first ball for the day, headband tied and length a bit short, and Yasir rocks back and pounds it through wide long-on for four. He tries a similar shot over the off side but only lobs it in front of mid-off. A straighter line for the third ball, so he dumps it over square leg for six!

What is this! He had ten Beroccas this morning, it’s going to be an interesting day for him later but right now he’s bursting with B2 vitamins. He opens his front leg and swings clean through the line of the ball at his pads, getting huge elevation and enough distance to lose the ball in the seating bowl. Once they finally find it and return it to Broad, Yasir defends on off stump.

Two balls to come. Some fielders coming up. One slip, one gully, ring field. So he aims another big drive down the ground and nicks it to Buttler.

45th over: Pakistan 148-8 (Yasir 21, Abbas 0) We’re away this morning, and Yasir Shah is away too! They’re all ready and waiting for the clock to tick over 11 o’clock. Archer has the ball but he’s rusty to start. On the pads for Yasir to work for two, then tries the bouncer and Yasir hooks for four! Top shot, got all of it through midwicket, not a top edge.

Archer tries the bouncer again, and Yasir uppercuts for four! Up periscope, the Adam Gilchrist style over-the-head waft, soaring over the keeper. Gets a ball into his ribcage and dinks the pull shot for a run.

Mohammad Abbas has two balls to survive. Plays it nicely! Attempted yorker, full face of the bat off his pads, but straight to square leg. These two must have been in the nets this morning, as Abbas blocks the last ball on off stump. Wonderful first over for Pakistan, 11 runs from it.

Some first thoughts in response to Andy: there’s a tendency for people to assume a particular point is being made when stats are mentioned, when that may not be the case. If I get online and post that Virat Kohli’s ODI average against the Netherlands is 12, and JP Duminy’s is 190, I can almost guarantee I’ll get some angry patriots demanding to know how I can justify saying that Duminy is better than Kohli. Where all I would actually be doing is offering some information, whether because it’s funny or interesting or anything else.

Talking about the chases is a bit like that. No one is saying that it’s impossible to chase 300 because the biggest chase is 294. All they’re saying is that it hasn’t happened before, which seems pretty relevant and interesting.

If we get into the likelihood of it happening, I’d say that it’s psychologically much easier for a team to make 250 while chasing 400 than to make 250 chasing 250. It’s a pressure-off kind of situation because they’re not expected to get close, and the fielding side can afford to wait them out.

There’s also this point from Geoff Wignall (rally the Geoffs): “A fourth innings score above 250 in a high scoring game (likely the case when the score was insufficient for victory) is altogether different to one in a low scoring game, where it’s demonstrably rare. So the point of very few successful attempts on 250+ targets is quite valid.”

Alriiiight, here’s some spicy stuff from Andy Cooke. I like this.

“Once again, we’ve been seeing all the ‘only once has any team chased more than this amount to win at Old Trafford’ stuff. A quick check reveals that the fourth innings of Tests at Old Trafford has seen 10 scores of over 250 (out of 46 occasions). Yes, only one of those resulted in a win – but if the target had been 250, all of them would, wouldn’t they?

“There have been six posted scores of over 300 (and the seventh, at 294/4, makes you think the chasing team would have been favourite if the target had been 300, really…). The key variables are simply runs scored and time – not whether or not any given attempt ended in a win against the target set then. It’s the target set now that’s important. Of course, if enough people misuse stats, they can cause a psychological barrier in the chasing team, though.”

If I had to back a trifecta as to who would be the first three OBO correspondents of the morning, it would have read Brian Withington, Kim Thonger, Abhijato Sensarma. That was absolutely correct.

The former is of a mind with me: “I see you shared my amazement at the collective Root/Sibley DRS mind hive in first innings – a review that would have made Kevin Pietersen blush – let’s hope they are not required to repeat the exercise second time round.”

The middle has a question, to which I’m pretty sure the answer is that no spectators are allowed anywhere, but if you know differently then let me know. “My beloved Somerset are playing at the county ground in Northampton today and living as I do about 30 minutes away these days I’m tempted to pop over to watch them trounce the home side but I can’t see from NCCC website whether they are allowing spectators. My younger son’s back garden overlooks the ground but even he can’t tell because the stands he can see look empty.”

The latter is keen to see whether Pakistan “manage to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat/defeat from the jaws of victory today (delete as appropriate).”

For anyone feeling irritable while the world is falling apart, Mr Engel is having an award-worthy grump today about a whole range of things. You might sympathise.

If you’re trying to gauge what Yasir and company can add this morning, I’m going to suggest not many. You can point to the fact that the leggie has a Test century, just as he certainly would do. As someone who was there to watch it at Adelaide, it did come via an awful lot of missed chances, a lot of chancy airborne clouts, and the fact that England’s favourite D. Warner had made a triple century and the Aussies knew they would win eventually.

Mo Abbas can bat a little bit, 13 not outs to 14 dismissals in his career, and four times he’s got into double figures. So, some chance he could hang around for a little while if Yasir can score.

I’ve just got that feeling, though, that England’s opening bowlers will be used, and will zero in on off stump, and find something, and nick these last two out pretty quickly. Naseem Shah coming in last has not done much batting, and there’s a reason for that, namely his ability.

Lots of moves from the ICC and the various member boards over the last few months, shifting tours and tournaments here, there, and everywhere. This one makes the least sense of all, postponing the Women’s World Cup that was due next February on the grounds that the players won’t have had enough games for preparation, and it’ll be too hard to play the qualifiers to get the three undecided places filled.

Which is, frankly, nonsense if the same boards can get the IPL and the current English summer up and running. The tournament is in New Zealand, where they don’t even need biosecure grounds as long as teams can quarantine on the way in. Roll the quallies in straight before the tournament if you have to, come on. And every team will be coming off the same base. They haven’t forgotten how to play cricket, but they might if you keep cancelling everything in sight.

Here’s Ali Martin’s report.

Good morning England, good other times to others. Geoff Lemon here, enjoying a brief dalliance on the OBO for this series. To celebrate putting the last words on my book manuscript today I’ve agreed to write more reams about cricket into the night, as it will be from my current location in Melbourne lockdown. Send me tidings of good cheer if you will, the winter marches on cold and deep!

What a Test match we’ve had so far. It has kept me company through the last few writing nights, much as the West Indies series did before that – an absolute joy to have the sounds of cricket, or some of them at least, coming sotto voce through the speakers on the other side of the room. No crowd noise, of course, but that could as easily happen at Dubai Sport City or a midweek county fixture. What we have had is the pock of bat on ball, the scuff of the spikes, the animation of the players themselves.

Pakistan’s bowlers! Goodness me, they were a sight to watch through that first innings. Swing, seam, pace, turn, all you could ask. The Pope and Buttler rearguard was fascinating, then the later Pakistan push. Shan Masood was special at the start, Broad and Woakes special in both innings. Anderson and Bess have had chances missed. England are a batsman light because Stokes couldn’t bowl, but he came on and bowled anyway when they really needed a wicket, and he gave them two.

We’ll start today with Pakistan 244 in front, two wickets left in hand, and England desperate to make sure they don’t add any more runs to that lead. It would already be the second-biggest chase at Old Trafford, the biggest was 294. I don’t think Mohammad Abbas and Naseem Shah will help Yasir Shah get that far.

You can email me as ever, geoff.lemon@theguardian.com, or tweet me on the electric choir using @GeoffLemonSport.