“But there are four days to go and hopefully we can bat well in our first innings”, the former Pakistan leg-spinner added. Coming in at 110 for five, staying until England’s score was nearly tripled, and scoring so quickly there was still time to take Pakistan’s first wicket, England’s left-hander was as rollicking as if he had been David Gower after a night on the tiles.
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Gary Ballance became Wahab Riaz’s third victim shortly after the interval when he was caught by Azhar Ali for eight and Bairstow, on 13, was caught off a no ball. Bairstow drove a wide ball from Wahab into the hands of point – but Wahab had overstepped.
It was another good catch by Sarfraz, an aggressive wicketkeeper-batsman whose sharp glovework this series has stood in stark contrast to Bairstow’s struggles behind the stumps.
Aslam, who had struck majestic half-centuries during Pakistan’s 141-run loss in the third Test at Edgbaston, was trapped leg-before by fast bowler Stuart Broad. He was joined by Pakistan’s leading run-scorer Younis who, after some peculiar innings this series, played with the poise expected of a man with more than 9,000 Test runs.
“(Australia’s) Mitchell Johnson did it to me a year ago.
Given he has four double centuries in his 108 Test career and one triple – his 313 against Sri Lanka in Karachi in 2009 – his early dismissal today would be handy for England.
Then debutant Iftikhar Ahmed miscalculated with an attempted pull at Woakes and was well caught by Moeen, running back at mid on.
“It’s the second time I’ve been hit on the helmet first ball”, Ali told Sky Sports.
“It was a great day in the end, we’d take 320”.
While he remains, Pakistan can still contemplate a substantial lead – possibly even of the three-figure magnitude they squandered in Birmingham.
Hales grassed a sitter at gully to reprieve nightwatchman Yasir on 21, while Finn failed to cling on to a pushed drive in his follow-through when Azhar had made 34.
Finn put down a straightforward caught and bowled chance off Azhar Ali and Shafiq was dropped by James Anderson in the slips off Woakes on 24. The reason behind the move was not quite clear since Shafiq has been Pakistan’s regular No.6 for quite some time now. “We stuck to our plans, but missed chances have been an issue”.
Ali’s batting average at No. 7 in Tests – the highest by far for any batsman with at least 500 runs in that position – he has made 583 runs with three hundreds and two fifties at No.7.
“At Lord’s I wasn’t on it and I was embarrassed after my shot”, he said. He is one of the best players Pakistan has ever produced.
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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“In the first Test at Lord’s Yasir got a flawless pitch similar to the ones found in the UAE”. For that the seamers will have to do something they are not adept at: bat and survive. “A professional team, a good team, when they want to win games, don’t make those kind of mistakes. My money’s still on England”.
