Chris Woakes was denied his customary wicket in the first over of a spell when Shah, on 21, edged the all-rounder to gully only for Alex Hales to drop the two-handed catch.
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Hales was responding, equivocally, to his team-mate Stuart Broad, after the bowler had questioned a journalist’s assessment that “replays are unclear but umps say out” by posting: “replays are unclear?”
Following his stumping off Yasir during the fourth innings of the series-opening defeat last month, Moeen made a decision to redouble his efforts and, after tightening up his defence with the batting coach Mark Ramprakash, has seen his form return, starting with two half-centuries in the win at Edgbaston.
Moeen admits, earlier in his career, he might have reacted differently after being hit on the helmet by a Wahab Riaz bouncer.
“I’ve worked on my technique, I’m still going to get hit now and again but I stayed calm and got on with it”. But later they were a bit exhausted and we did well. But sometimes you’ve just got to ride the storm a little bit. He has played some good attacking and defensive strokes while Azhar Ali has been the very sturdy at the crease.
Moeen took most telling advantage, completing his 140-ball hundred with a fearless strike off Yasir Shah over the man on the midwicket boundary for his second six to add to 12 fours. “But on this tour he is too wide of the stumps and is not getting the ball to come in”, he said.
“I didn’t think twice about using my feet – I thought ‘why not?’ as I backed myself to clear [the ropes] with that delivery”, he said. I’ve been hit a few times, I’m used to it. “It was a good connection”.
Turning to Rashid’s omission, Cook added: “We wanted to keep the team’s balance”.
“I think there has been an over-dependence on Yasir in this series and that to me has put us in a hard position in this series”, Butt said in an interview. At Lord’s I wasn’t on it and I was really embarrassed.
Some England players met Gower on the eve of the Test and Moeen admitted: “I was gutted”.
He never expended energy worrying about whether his place might be in jeopardy. I enjoy it and feel like I’m on top.
Captain Alastair Cook tried Woakes with the new ball and it brought immediate rewards.
“It [batting with the tail] is not an easy situation but it’s something while playing for England I’ve become better at”. England can reach the summit if they beat Pakistan 3-1 and India fail to overcome the West Indies 3-0. And then to get that wicket was a massive one as well.
The diminutive batsman took advantage to underpin Pakistan’s stumps total of 340 for six, a lead of 12, principally in a fourth-wicket stand of 150 alongside back-to-form veteran Younus (101no).
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Bairstow was caught at slip cordon off Amir early in the post-lunch session, but Moeen continued to build the innings in the company of Woakes.
