Taylor first added 42 runs for the fourth wicket in the company of Ian Bell (40).
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Reserving special praise for the way Taylor handled the spinners, Bell lauded the Nottinghamshire batsman for his knock.
But we also need to look at the match from Alastair Cook’s point of view. The last session produced 87 runs from 31 overs (at 2.81 runs an over).
Rahat was into his fifth over before he conceded a run off the bat, though Patel then proceeded to crack boundaries either side of the wicket off him.
It was England’s best day of this series – their best since Trent Bridge of treasured memory.
“The tempo the guys played with at the end was brilliant”.
A slow pitch and even slower outfield put big shots at a premium. I’ve set a standard over a period of time that when I get a start I would like to have converted at least one of them into a match-winning hundred.
Bell was behind the stumps off Shah shortly after tea but Taylor continued to build the innings in the company of Bairstow.
“It’s been a struggle for a while so it’s nice to spend a bit of time in the middle”.
Thorpe’s influence could be seen in particular when Taylor used his feet to try and get his innings going early on, through his busyness at the crease by running very hard between the wickets and sweeping fine to break the deadlock when Pakistan were tying England down.
Bairstow lent a good supporting hand as England drove forward the advantage going into day three.
Both players showed plenty of energy in their running to keep the scoreboard ticking over, while the second new ball helped them provide a few late impetus and cut Pakistan’s lead.
“As many runs as possible would be great but anything up to 100 would be fantastic”.
Coming in at No. 7, he was more fluent than nearly anyone else has been in the match so far and crunched several boundaries to move to his highest score in eight Test innings.
After lunch, however, England were seized by stomach cramps, or at any rate cramped up, and added only 48.
“This morning, when I went in it started to skid on more than spin”. He did only go for 60 runs, but this wasn’t a pitch where containment was the spinner’s main job. It was a really good day but it means nothing unless we have a good day tomorrow.
England’s pace-cum-spin attack removed Pakistan’s openers cheaply to give them a kick-start on the opening day of the third and final Test on Sunday.
An European Central Bank spokesperson said: “Imaging confirms Stokes has a collar bone joint injury”.
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“Imaging has confirmed… Ben Stokes suffered a collar bone joint injury”, the European Central Bank said in a statement.
