Equal 5 wickets, Tongue-Robinson share the ball too

Josh Tongue and Ollie Robinson, the two England pacers, have taken five wickets each in the first innings of the first Test against Pakistan. Their bowling bowled out Pakistan for 171 runs on the very first day.

Robinson, bowling 18 overs, took 5 wickets for 51 runs. This was the fifth five-wicket haul of his innings in his 22nd Test match career. Tongue, on the other hand, took 5 wickets for 46 runs bowling almost half the overs Robinson bowled. This was the fourth five-wicket haul of his innings in his 13-Test career.

This is the 16th instance in Test cricket of two England bowlers taking five wickets each in the same innings. The last such instance before this was seen in 2006, when Simon Harmison and Monty Panesar shared 10 wickets between them for England against Pakistan at Old Trafford.

The ball is usually given to the bowler who takes five wickets in an innings at the end of the match, and he keeps it as a memento. This time as well, the ball was handed to Tongue and Robinson. However, since both had taken five wickets each, a new problem arose over how the two would share a single ball.

Robinson found the solution. While leaving the field, he proposed to Tongue that they split the ball between them. Robinson said at the press conference after the first day's play, "While we were leaving the field together, I told Tongue I thought we should share this ball. Hearing that, Tongue said it would be great to do that."

Robinson said two bowlers taking equal five wickets in the same innings does not happen regularly, so keeping the ball split between them would make it memorable for both.