Gary Ballance and Moeen Ali kept England competitive on a taxing first day of the third Investec Test against Pakistan at Edgbaston.
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But each part of that sequence, starting with 50-50 coin in the air, is reliant on the previous one and risky Pakistan, as they showed with a superb 75-run win at Lord’s, have the weapons to upset England at every stage.
Number three Azhar had come in just five balls into Thursday s play after Mohammad Hafeez had fallen for a duck to leave Pakistan none for one.
Azhar punished England for dropping him twice with his 10th century in 48 Tests.
The 32-year-old Sohail, who played the last of his two test matches in 2011, took two wickets in each of the first two sessions before wrapping up the innings by trapping James Anderson leg before wicket.
A back-of-a-length delivery brought a half-hearted prod from Vince and although the batsman initially stood his ground – with Younis Khan also stating he was not sure over the catch – this was a rare occasion of TV pictures going in favour of the fielding side.
“The last ball is always nervy – it was a loose shot”, Azhar told Sky Sports. I got my next chance in 2011 and there too I didn’t do well.
But it was downhill from there for Alastair Cook’s men as the much-maligned Pakistan batting order took advantage of some wayward bowling and an increasingly benign wicket to end the day on 257/3.
The 34-year-old, the pick of the England bowlers, later received two official warnings for following through on the pitch, and another would have seen him removed from the attack. “I let things get to me and my behaviour wasn’t acceptable, a bit petulant”. I don’t necessarily think it was what I said, it was just the way I behaved. But we could have bowled slightly better.
“But you have to give credit to the opposition that they played so outstandingly that it put you out of the match”. While Sohail replaced Wahab Riaz, Aslam had come in for Shan Masood for what is only his third Test match.
This was a chastening day for England – one which put their score of 297 into some context – but the late removal of Azhar provided a cause for optimism for day three.
Meanwhile Aslam swept off-spinner Moeen Ali for four, to complete a maiden Test fifty in 135 balls with five boundaries.
Moeen missed England’s second chance of the afternoon, Azhar again surviving but this time when a tough caught-and-bowled went down on 69.
1956, Old Trafford: England beat Australia by an innings and 73 runs.
Azhar poked Woakes into the offside and set off for a non-existent single, with the luckless Aslam dismissed by James Vince’s direct hit from cover.
Pakistan were now 181 for two, with Aslam having faced 176 balls in a stad spanning 62 overs. He did have the consolation of notching up his highest Test score so far, easily surpassing the 20 he made against Bangladesh in Khulna past year.
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Azhar’s ungainly pulled four off paceman Stuart Broad saw him to his second Test century against England in 209 balls.
