Virus-hit England 174-0 at lunch in 1st test vs Pakistan

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (AP) — Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett provided virus-hit England with an electrifying start to its first test in Pakistan in 17 years on Thursday.

Crawley, one of the lucky England players not to be hit by the viral infection which affected six or seven of his teammates, was unbeaten on 91 off 79 balls as the visitors stormed to 174-0 at lunch on Day 1.

Left-handed Ben Duckett, playing his first test after six years, was not out on 77 off 85 balls as the England opening pair fulfilled coach Brendon McCullum’s approach of playing aggressive brand of test cricket that started at home in this summer.

Both openers came hard at an unexperienced red-ball pace attack in the absence of injured Shaheen Afridi after Pakistan handed test debuts to fast bowlers Mohammad Ali and Haris Rauf along with leg-spinner Zahid Mahmood and middle-order batter Saud Shakeel.

Both Naseem Shah and Ali couldn’t extract any movement from a grass-less Pindi Cricket Stadium wicket as captain Ben Stokes recovered in time from the virus and opted to bat after winning the toss.

Crawley showed the England intent of playing aggressively as he drove Naseem for two straight boundaries in the first over which went for 14 runs. He was ruthless against Rauf’s short pitched deliveries and the gentle medium pace of Ali too to raise his half century off only 38 balls with 11 fours before hitting further six boundaries in the session.

Duckett dominated the legspin of Mahmood with his trademark sweep shots and didn’t hesitate to attack the spinner early with a reverse swept boundary and completed his maiden test half century off 50 balls.

The start of the test was only confirmed two hours ahead of the toss after the Pakistan Cricket Board said that the England and Wales Cricket Board “has informed the PCB that they are in a position to field an XI, and, as such, the first test will commence as per schedule today.”

England had to make a change in its playing XI at the last minute after wicketkeeper Ben Foakes couldn’t recover from the viral infection.

In the absence of ill Foakes, Will Jacks will make his test debut while Ollie Pope will be the wicketkeeper. Liam Livingstone is the other Englishman to make his debut.

___

More AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports