MULTAN: Ben Stokes, whose England team were beaten in the second Pakistan Test by 152 runs on Friday, said he apologized after showing his frustrations on the field a day earlier.
The visitors were left to rue two dropped catches on day three in Multan, Salman Agha escaping on four and six on his way to a crucial half-century as Pakistan made 221 in their second innings.
England were left to chase an unlikely 297 to seal the series with a match to go but never got close on a sharply turning Multan pitch that was recycled from the first Test.
It was Pakistan’s first Test win at home since February 2021.
“No one means to drop catches but it just proves how important catches are out in these subcontinent conditions because they don’t come along that often,” skipper Stokes told Sky Sports.
“I actually apologized to the group up there last night.”
Stokes, who missed England’s innings victory in the first Test in Multan because of injury, added: “It’s the first time in my captaincy that I’ve let my emotions, how I was feeling as the game was unfolding, show in my body language.
“I owned up to that and I’m very annoyed with myself for letting that out and it’s something I don’t want to do or be seen to be doing.
“So I apologized to the group about that and I said it was poor old me coming out, tired, grumpy old man last night but you won’t see that happen again.”
The third and final Test is in Rawalpindi from October 24 and Stokes refused to look backwards or wonder what might have been.
“Next week is going to be good. I’m sure everyone’s enjoyed watching here and back home,” said the skipper.
“Hopefully we can get a win next week and go home with another series win.”
England swept a three-Test series in Pakistan in 2022.
Stokes sorry for frustration over dropped catches in England loss to Pakistan
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Stokes sorry for frustration over dropped catches in England loss to Pakistan
- The visitors were left to rue two dropped catches, with Salman Agha escaping on four and six on his way to a crucial half-century
- England were left to chase an unlikely 297 to seal the series with a match to go but never got close on a sharply turning Multan pitch
Qatar’s Al-Attiyah wins Stage 6 for Dacia, retakes Dakar lead
- Al-Attiyah, 55, has now completed 19 successive Dakars with at least one stage win every time
RIYADH: Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah will lead the Dakar Rally into its second and final week after winning the sixth stage in the Saudi desert on Friday to take over at the top from South African rival Henk Lategan.
Al-Attiyah, a five-time Dakar winner now competing for the Dacia Sandriders, had been second overnight but turned a deficit of more than three minutes into a 6 minutes and 10 second advantage over the 326km timed stage between Hail and Riyadh.
Saturday is a rest day before the rally resumes in Riyadh on Sunday with seven more stages to the finish in Yanbu on the Red Sea coast on Jan. 17.
Al-Attiyah won Friday’s stage by two minutes and 58 seconds from teammate and nine-time world rally champion Sebastien Loeb, Dacia’s first Dakar one-two, with Toyota’s American Seth Quintero third.
Overall, three different manufacturers filled podium positions with Toyota’s Lategan second and Ford’s Nani Roma third — his first time on the virtual podium since 2019.
Al-Attiyah, 55, has now completed 19 successive Dakars with at least one stage win every time.
Friday was his career 49th stage win in the car category — one off the record held jointly by Ari Vatanen and “Mr Dakar” Stephane Peterhansel.
Spaniard Carlos Sainz, father of the Formula One driver and a four-time Dakar winner still racing hard at the age of 63, was in fourth place for Ford with teammate Mattias Ekstrom fifth and Loeb sixth.
American Mitch Guthrie, stage winner on Thursday for Ford, dropped to seventh from sixth.
In the motorcycle category there was no change at the top, although leader and defending champion Daniel Sanders was handed a 6-minute penalty for riding at 98kph in a zone limited to 50kph.
KTM rider Sanders now leads Honda’s American Ricky Brabec, the stage winner after the Australian’s penalty, by 45 seconds with Argentine rider Luciano Benavides more than 10 minutes behind in third.
“It was an emotional rollercoaster all day. Unfortunately, I got a speeding penalty, so that will set me back a bit,” said Sanders.
“I just pushed as much as I could today but it’s hard to do good in the sand, especially opening. I did the best I could and I’ve got to stop making silly mistakes. I haven’t pieced this first week together so well.”
