Eight out of nine! Stokes’ “unstoppable” Poms claim dramatic win over valiant Pakistan

Ben Stokes’ remarkably brilliant start to his Test captaincy stint continued as England held off a brave and fast-finishing Pakistan side to claim a thrilling win in Multan and secure a 2-0 series win.

Mark Wood grabbed four wickets as England bowled out Pakistan for 328 on Monday to record a hard-fought, dramatic 26-run victory in the second Test in Multan.

It was England’s eight wins from the nine Tests they have played since Stokes took over as captain.

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Resuming the fourth day at 4-198 and chasing 355 to win, Pakistan looked set for victory at one point as Mohammad Nawaz and Saud Shakeel put on 80 runs for the sixth wicket. Shakeel hit eight boundaries during his 314-minute vigil as England struggled to get wickets on a Multan pitch that slowed considerably as the game progressed.

But Wood, who missed England’s 74-run win in the first Test in Rawalpindi with a hip injury, turned the match in England’s favor with the wickets of Nawaz (45) and Shakeel (94) in the space of just 12 balls and one run. .

Agha Salman (20*) and Abrar Ahmed (17) threatened some powerful lower order batting late on as they pushed hard for an unlikely win to keep the series alive.

But Abrar’s rapid-fire cameo ended courtesy of Jimmy Anderson, while Salman ran out of batting partners.

Wood dismissed Zahid Mahmood without scoring and Ollie Robinson ended the match with wicket No. 11 Mohammad Ali for a duck, sparking celebrations in the England camp.

Wood finished with 4-65 for the innings, while Anderson and Robinson took two wickets each.

“For Ben Stokes, his team’s style of cricket seems unstoppable,” said former England captain David Gower.

“This victory was well-deserved and very hard-fought

“England must be incredibly proud of the way they have led in this series. They set a very different tone – one never seen before in Pakistan.

“Stokes and (Brendon) McCullum were exactly the tonic that English cricket needed.

This is England’s third series win in Pakistan after victories in 1961 and 2000 – although they have not toured for 17 years due to security concerns.

“It was nice how we stuck to the task of going out and putting them under pressure even though the conditions weren’t in our favour,” Stokes said afterwards.

“Jimmy, Robbo and Woody really tried, so hats off to the lads. The way they pitched throughout the game, they looked like a huge threat.”

The victory was not without controversy.

Wood forced Shakeel to play a short ball that caught his glove and keeper Ollie Pope took a diving catch to his left.

Records were inconclusive as to whether the ball scraped the ground before Pope caught it, but controversially the third umpire felt there was insufficient evidence to overturn the decision.

“From the third umpire’s point of view, he thinks Pope has his gloves under the ball. I think you could argue otherwise,” former England captain Michael Atherton commented.

Pakistan captain Babar Azam accepted it as part of the game.

“As professionals we have to respect and follow the referee’s decision,” he said.

“We made mistakes as a team.

Former England paceman Steve Finn said Shakeel could have been unlucky.

“We could have this debate forever, but Ollie Pope doesn’t seem convinced to me when he looks up to celebrate,” Finn told Sky Sports Cricket.

“To me, you can just see the taped toe sticking out of the back of the ball a little bit, which suggests it may have touched the ground. But I also think you have to respect the referee’s decision on the pitch.”

Fellow broadcaster Ian Ward added: “A soft signal is given when the technology fails. It’s not that the technology has failed there, but it’s inconclusive, so the protocol is that Joel Wilson will follow what was a weak signal.”

Pakistan lost the last six wickets for 37 in the first innings and the last five for 38 in the second.

England, on their first Test tour of Pakistan in 17 years, won the first Test by 74 runs in Rawalpindi.

The third and final Test begins in Karachi on Saturday.

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