Saqib Mahmood expressed regret for “taking his eye off the ball” and missing out on a maiden half-century, but was delighted that England had not “fallen to pieces” after their batters misfired.
Last man Mahmood shared 90 for a record 10th wicket with Jack Leach to help England to 204 all out after they were asked to bat first on a spicier pitch than we have seen so far in this series. Mahmood was out in the final over of the day for 49, a career-best score, while Leach advanced his batting credentials by soaking up 141 balls across more than three hours.
Earlier, England were 67 for seven with six of their top seven dismissed for single figure scores.
“It could have easily fallen into pieces after the start we had in the first two sessions but we stuck at it well,” said Mahmood. “Hopefully we have tired those guys out.
“I wouldn’t say [we are on top] just yet. We’ve won one session out of three so it’s key we win the first session tomorrow, that’s the mantra in the dressing room.”
Mahmood was pleased with how he batted.
“At one stage I faced 25-30 balls without getting a run, then I got dropped and I just thought ‘I’m gonna take this guy down’,” he laughed. “Some of the lads got stuck into me for running after I hit that (six).
“It was good fun out there with Leachy, it was a case of being disciplined out there and hitting the bad ball.
“At the start it was just about seeing Alzarri [Joseph] and Jayden off, I felt those two guys were the biggest threat. It was a bit of fun after that – the words ‘I’m gonna take this guy down’ may have been said a couple of times.
“We had little short targets, the first one was seeing off that spell from Alzarri Joseph and Jayden Seales. They were a big threat. We knew they’d get to a stage where the sting was taken out of their attack and we scored pretty freely before that second new ball.”
But he was “gutted” to be bowled by Jermaine Blackwood’s part-time spin off the final ball of the day, one shy of his first fifty at professional level.
“It was pretty chilled out there, just the basics...watching the ball, which I should have done last ball as well,” he said.
“I pushed the man back and thought, just get one here. A bit of tunnel vision, I probably took my eye off the ball. It would have been nice to get 50 but in the grand scheme of things a 90-run partnership is the main thing and it’s got us to a half decent total.”
