Younis, 101 overnight, was finally trapped leg before wicket by James Anderson’s off-cutter.
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On this pitch, that always looked a hard task.
Centurion Shafiq was one of three Pakistan batsmen who were dropped before lunch on day two and England’s assistant coach Paul Farbrace admitted that was a concern.
Left arm tail-end batsman Mohammad Amir is going steady with 19 off 38 deliveries. But Younis’s magnificence transcended everything else.
New man Wahab played ideal foil to Younis as the veteran started to shift gears slowly.
Shafiq avoided a third straight nought by getting off the mark with a cover-driven four off Finn.
In the end it took a stunning catch from Stuart Broad to remove Shafiq, but by then the real damage had been done, a glimpse of Pakistan’s batting future left behind for a capacity crowd at The Oval to take home with them on a gloriously warm summer evening.
After Wahab Riaz squared up Alastair Cook to have him well taken at first slip, Yasir removed Alex Hales, James Vince and Joe Root in a spell of 3-4 in 22 deliveries.
Saturday saw him fall lbw for 12 to Shah’s sixth ball of the day, with England wasting a review in the process.
But only six times in properly completed matches in the 139-year history of Test cricket have a team come back from more than 200 runs behind on first innings to win. While Yasir Shah didn’t take any wickets he managed to reasonably competitive in the context of the match and eased the workload on his pacemen.
“Until the last half-hour, it was a tough day”, said Farbrace, but the hosts picked up three late wickets including that of captain Misbah-ul-Haq.
Younis Khan believes his sixth double century, which heralded a return to form after his worst run of scores in 16 years as a Test cricketer, is proof that, fitness permitting, he can plough on at global level for some time to come.
Pakistan capitalized on England’s fielding lapses to reach 97-2 at lunch Friday and trail by 231 runs in the fourth and final test.
But before and after that he and Pakistan dealt with everything England threw at them with relative ease on a track that still had some pace and bounce in it for the bowlers. Having rediscovered his elusive form during a brilliant unbeaten hundred on the second day, he was content to bide his time, as England found some handy extra bounce with the still-new ball, as well as a modicum of lateral movement on an overcast morning.
By the time Younis had swatted Moeen Ali high over long-on for six to bring up his double hundred midway through the afternoon session, that lead had been stretched to 147 for the loss of just two more wickets. The hosts were bowled out for a total of 328 runs on the first day of play.
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The breakthrough finally arrived in the second hour of the morning, as Woakes – who had shared the morning honours with Anderson before being switched to the Vauxhall End to take advantage of a stiff outswinger’s breeze – found a flawless bail-trimming line and length to demand a defensive jab from Sarfraz.
