Sharjah – England’s Alastair Cook hit a painstaking half-century in what looked like a losing cause as Pakistan took four key wickets in a vicious spell to move within sight of a 2-0 Test series victory on Thursday.
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England’s batsmen must “pull their fingers out” if they are to win the third Test against Pakistan and draw the series 1-1, says James Anderson. Shoaib Malik turned out to be the hero with the ball for the second time in the Test, removing both Moeen Ali and Ian Bell to end the day with figures of 7-3-8-2.
Cook and Root survived confident LBW appeals off Zulfiqar Babar in the dying moments, much to the relief of the England camp.
England have never successfully chased more than 209 runs in a Test match in Asia. This is his 118th match.
The near misses ended there – but England had an opening again, after Misbah and Hafeez at last went in quick succession to the second new ball.
Pakistan wrapped up a 2-0 triumph in the three-match series with a 127-run hammering in Sharjah, England limping to 156 all out in their second innings in a chase of 284.
“We are going to have to bat very well, it’s going to be hard on a fifth-day wicket against their spinners, but we are going to give it a good shot”, said Anderson.
Pakistan resumed the final session with the score reading 319 for eight.
Contrastingly, Pakistan´s leg-spinner Yasir Shah grabbed 15 in two Tests, Malik 11 and Zulfiqar Babar nine.
Sarfraz batted confidently before left-armer Samit Patel managed to spin one into his stumps.
The tourists began the fourth day in positive fashion, challenging the umpire’s not out verdict against Hafeez on the first ball of the day off leg-spinner Adil Rashid but could not get it overturned.
However, Hafeez claimed the pitch was on Pakistan’s side. England players wore black armbands in memory of former batsman David Graveny who died on Tuesday after long illness.
But Hafeez soon completed his ninth Test hundred, off 169 balls, and there were only brief moments of encouragement for England – each accompanied by more of that frustration.
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The victory lifts Pakistan to an equal highest ever number two in the ICC (International Cricket Council) Test rankings, a spot which they previously attained only for a few days in August 2006.
