Pakistan collapse gives England control on second day at Multan

England lead by 281 runs after Ben Duckett and Harry Brook made second-innings half centuries

Multan (day two of five): England 281 & 202-5, Pakistan 202 - England lead by 281 runs with five second-innings wickets remaining

Scorecard

England took control of the second Test at Multan after Pakistan folded in a horror morning session, which saw eight wickets fall to give the tourists a substantial first-innings lead.

The visitors, who lead the series after their win at Rawalpindi, then finished the day on 202 for 5, with a lead of 281 after Pakistan had collapsed from a promising position of 142 for 2 to lose 8 for 60 once Babar Azam was bowled by Ollie Robinson.

Then, led by Ben Duckett – and in far more traditional Test style than much of what Ben Stokes' charges have produced in the last week – England built up a healthy advantage on day two, with the surface still offering significant turn.

Duckett eventually fell for 79, defeated by a rare longhop from Abrar Ahmed that kept low and bowled him as he looked to pull. Until then – and other than a single straightforward chance somehow put down by Babar at midwicket – the Nottinghamshire left-hander played superbly, still sweeping at will as England recovered from the loss of early wickets.

Zak Crawley ran himself out for three, taking on Abrar at mid-on and losing comfortably. Will Jacks, sent in at No.3 to provide some relief for Ollie Pope, who is keeping wicket in this Test, missed a slog-sweep to fall for four.

^{Abdullah Shafique caught Joe Root brilliantly (Aamir Qureshi/AFP via Getty Images)}

Joe Root (21) added 54 in partnership with Duckett but was brilliantly caught at short leg by Abdullah Shafique. Duckett and Harry Brook then shared 68 for the fourth wicket, before – after Duckett's demise – Brook was the blameless party in the runout of Pope, who came in at No.6 but was run out by a distance after setting off for a run to Mohammad Nawaz that was never on.

Brook ended the day unbeaten on 74, with Stokes (16*) alongside him.

Earlier, Pakistan had looked like making serious inroads into England's first-innings score, with Babar (75) and Saud Shakeel (63) beginning the day in confident, assertive fashion.

But Babar was undone by a fine delivery from Ollie Robinson, who was only used for a five-over spell in which he helped to turn the game for a second match in succession. He found just enough reverse swing to break the door open for England.

Shakeel holed out to mid-on shortly afterwards to give Jack Leach his hundredth Test wicket, before Mohammad Rizwan was bowled by a fine delivery from the left-arm spinner.

Their wickets opened the floodgates: Nawaz slapped a catch to mid-off, Salman Agha chipped meekly to midwicket, Mohammad Ali edged to slip via pad and Stokes recalled Mark Wood to the attack to trap Zahid Mahmood palpably in front with the first ball of his spell.

After a brief period of doggedness from Abrar, the who now has 10 wickets in the match, and Faheem Ashraf, Ashraf clipped Wood straight to Duckett at deep square leg as Pakistan subsided to 202 all out.

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