On a day where rain interrupted play four times, the hosts ended the day 98-1 to bolster their considerable lead after the visitors were bowled out for 198. Join The Roar for live scores from Day 3 of the second Test in this series, starting from 8pm (AEST).
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England are primed for a declaration after ending day three of the second Test with a lead of 489 and nine second-innings wickets intact.
That left them a mammoth 470 runs behind England’s first-innings 589 for 8 declared and on the verge of being made to follow on in the second game of this four-match series.
Misbah, meanwhile, took 47 balls to hit his first four – a square-drive off Anderson – yet still presented Pakistan’s best chance of holding England up for long.
Three Pakistan bowlers conceded more than 100 runs each, Shah coming back down to earth after his Lord’s display with one for 213 in 54 overs.
Woakes continued his fine run of form, hitting eight fours and a six on the way to his second test half-century before he poked a return catch to Shah and departed for 58.
They’ll want to tear through the rest of Pakistan’s batting order quickly today and likely look to enforce a follow on if possible.
Either side of lunch Misbah and number ten Wahab Riaz launched a counter-attack as they made an aggressive 60, taking kindly to the slow pace of Moeen Ali in particular.
Both centurion in England’s first innings, Alastair Cook and Joe Root were yet not out with 49 and 23 runs respectively.
“We thought we’d bat while the wicket was still good, rather than put ourselves under pressure when it gets worse”.
The batsmen fell regularly, with Asad Shafiq the next to go, driving carelessly to point to give Stuart Broad his first wicket. “But we still have good players to come in and we will have to bat better second time around”.
Cook’s contribution was 105, before he was bowled by Mohammad Amir on the stroke of tea, and Root finished unbeaten on 141 to keep England on course for a dominant total.
But Woakes, who picked up 11 wickets in England’s 75-run defeat at Lord’s, got the breakthrough in his first over when he induced an outside edge of Hafeez’s bat to Root in the slips.
Ben Stokes had some fortune, depositing a mis-sweep at Yasir safely on 25, but less perhaps when Wahab (three for 106) had him caught-behind after overturning the initial decision via an extensive DRS procedure. Nightwatchman Rahat was caught at short leg via a Woakes bouncer, as Pakistan stumbled to the close.
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Woakes struck again when Rahat, a somewhat less effective nightwatchman, fended a well-directed bouncer to Gary Ballance at short leg.
