Azhar brought up his second Test ton against England in 209 balls with a pulled boundary off Stuart Broad, and celebrated with several press-ups, the way most of Pakistan’s squad have celebrated significant moments in this series as a tribute to the Pakistan Army staff who helped them get fit during a pre-tour “boot camp”. At close of play on day 2, Pakistan was 257 for three and now trail just by 40 runs.
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Sami Aslam (82) missed out on his maiden test hundred but frustrated England for 4-1/2 hours with a 181-run second wicket stand with Azhar, who was caught off the last ball of the second day after scoring 139 off 293 balls.
Pakistan (probable): Mohammad Hafeez, Sami Aslam, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Asad Shafiq, Sarfraz Ahmed (wkt), Mohammad Amir, Yasir Shah, Sohail Khan and Rahat Ali.
“I’ve apologised for my behaviour to the umpires”, said Anderson. “You come to England wanting to perform in English conditions so there’s always something to prove here”.
Masood has become something of a “bunny” for James Anderson, England’s all-time leading Test wicket-taker.
On a testing day for the England bowlers, Anderson had a few run-ins with the on-field umpires Joel Wilson and Bruce Oxenford.
“We are sure about who will be playing – absolutely no doubt – but I don’t want to let the other team know”, said Misbah. I thought we bowled pretty well, we kept them under three an over for most of the day.
Root smashed 254 and an unbeaten 71 while Cook scored 105 and 76 not out as England crushed Pakistan by the huge margin of 330 runs at Old Trafford to level the four-match Test series 1-1.
Yet the well-organised opener played with a maturity belying his years in both attack and defence during Thursday’s morning session.
Those scores remained unaltered when Azhar, in a rare indiscretion, went for a flashing drive outside off stump against Anderson, only for Joe Root to drop the awkward second-slip chance to his left.
Azhar nearly fell to a similar shot off Ali when on 68, but the bowler was unable to hold a tough return chance above his head off a hard-hit drive.
After tea, both Azhar and Aslam drove Ali for a straight six apiece.
“Which England bowlers looked as if they might get wickets?”
Sohail’s previous two Tests, the last nearly five years ago, had brought him a solitary wicket at the cost of 245 runs.
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The watchful Aslam was also raising his bat after sweeping Moeen to the fine-leg boundary to pass 50 and danced down the track to lift the spinner for four down the ground as England ran out of ideas on a good track.
