RAWALPINDI: Pakistan spinner Sajid Khan took six wickets as England were all out for 267 after electing to bat on the opening day of the series-deciding third Test in Rawalpindi on Thursday.
Sajid finished with 6-128 and Noman Ali grabbed 3-88 after a rearguard 89 by Jamie Smith enabled England to get past 250 after they stuttered to 110-5 at lunch.
Smith smashed six towering sixes and five boundaries in his 119-ball knock before he was caught off a miscued slog against spinner Zahid Mahmood in the last over before tea.
After tea, Sajid removed Rehan Ahmed for nine to complete his third five-wicket haul before also dismissing Jack Leach for 16.
England lost captain Ben Stokes in the third over after the break, caught Sajid for 12 but Smith, who reached his fifty off 94 balls, and Gus Atkinson (39) added 105 for the seventh wicket.
The morning session was dominated by Sajid and Noman Ali who bowled unchanged for 42 overs.
After England won the toss and batted, Pakistan gave the new ball to Sajid and Noman who benefited from the parched pitch offering spin and low bounce from the first ball.
Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett raced to 56 in a confident start but England lost Crawley (29), Ollie Pope (three) and Joe Root (five) in the space of just 24 runs.
Noman had Crawley caught off a miscued drive while Sajid removed Pope and Root leg before.
Duckett, who completed a half-century off 76 balls, was trapped leg before by Noman for 52 after hitting four boundaries and a six.
First Test triple centurion Harry Brook lasted for 14 deliveries before being bowled behind his legs by Sajid for five after he failed to connect on a sweep.
Both the teams included three spinners on a grassless pitch which the hosts dried with fans and heaters in the build-up.
Sajid and Noman shared all 20 wickets in Pakistan’s second Test win to level the series at 1-1 after England won the first by an innings, with both matches taking place in Multan.
Sajid takes six as England dismissed for 267 in third Test
https://arab.news/mx8mm
Sajid takes six as England dismissed for 267 in third Test
- Sajid Khan finishes with 6-128 as Noman Ali grabs 3-88 to skittle England on spin-friendly track
- Both teams have three spinners on grassless pitch which hosts dried with fans and heaters
FIFA announces $60 World Cup tickets after pricing backlash
PARIS: World Cup organizers unveiled a new cut-price ticket category on Tuesday after a backlash by fans over pricing for the 2026 tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Football’s global governing body FIFA said in a statement that it had created a limited number of “Supporter Entry Tier” fixed at $60 for all 104 matches, including the final.
It said the plan was “designed to further support traveling fans following their national teams across the tournament.”
FIFA said that the $60 tickets would be reserved for fans of qualified teams and would make up 10 percent of each national federation’s allotment.
Fan group Football Supporters Europe , which last week called prices “extortionate” and “astronomical,” responded by saying the FIFA was offering too little.
“While we welcome FIFA’s seeming recognition of the damage its original plans were to cause, the revisions do not go far enough,” FSE said in a statement on Tuesday.
Last week, FSE said ticket prices were almost five times higher than in 2022 in Qatar, describing FIFA’s pricing for 2026 as a “monumental betrayal of the tradition of the World Cup.”
“If a supporter were to follow their team from the first match to the final it would cost them a minimum of $6,900,” it said at the time, adding that World Cup organizers had promised tickets priced from $21 in a bid document released in 2018.
‘Appeasement tactic’
On Tuesday, FSE said FIFA’s partial ticketing U-turn exposed flaws in how prices for next year’s tournament had been set.
“For the moment we are looking at the FIFA announcement as nothing more than an appeasement tactic due to the global negative backlash,” FSE said.
“This shows that FIFA’s ticketing policy is not set in stone, was decided in a rush, and without proper consultation — including with FIFA’s own member associations.
“Based on the allocations publicly available, this would mean that at best a few hundred fans per match and team would be lucky enough to take advantage of the 60 US dollar prices, while the vast majority would still have to pay extortionate prices, way higher than at any tournament before.”
The organization also criticized the failure to make provisions for supporters with disabilities or their companions.
Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer echoed FSE, stating that FIFA’s cheaper ticket category did not go far enough.
“I welcome FIFA’s announcement of some lower priced supporters tickets,” Starmer wrote on X.
“But as someone who used to save up for England tickets, I encourage FIFA to do more to make tickets more affordable so that the World Cup doesn’t lose touch with the genuine supporters who make the game so special.”
Announcing the $60 tickets on Tuesday, FIFA said that national federations “are requested to ensure that these tickets are specifically allocated to loyal fans who are closely connected to their national teams.”
FIFA also said that if fans bought tickets for games in the knockout rounds only to find their team eliminated at an earlier stage, they “will have the administrative fee waived when refunds are processed.”
It added that it was making the announcement “amid extraordinary global demand for tickets” with 20 million requests already submitted.
The draw for tickets of all prices in the first round of sales will take place on Tuesday, January 13.
