Younus (218) helped Pakistan pile up 542 all out on day three of the fourth Investec Test, before England perhaps betrayed the weariness inflicted by 146 overs in the field as they stumbled to 88 for four at stumps. After resuming on 340 for 6 overnight, with a narrow lead of 12, Sarfraz and Younis continued the revival that they had begun late on the second evening, as they blunted the remaining overs of the new ball with contrastingly effective approaches, before Wahab Riaz dug in with impressive resilence, scoring one run from 23 balls in support of his senior partner as England’s bowlers became increasingly frustrated at their lack of incision. This was Younis’s 32nd century in 108 Tests.
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Woakes stretched his wicket tally to 25 in the series – a record by an Englishman in a four-test series against Pakistan.
The score at that stage was 434 for 8, the lead a healthy but still precarious 106 – only three runs more, in fact, than the deficit that England had overcome in last week’s third Test at Edgbaston. “They were there for me and suddenly things were going my way”.
“In tight games like this you have to take every opportunity”, said England assistant coach Paul Farbrace.
He took Finn for back-to-back boundaries before hitting a sharp return catch the following delivery but the towering paceman couldn’t cling on to the low-down chance. New man Wahab played ideal foil to Younis as the veteran started to shift gears slowly.
From despair one week to delight the next, Asad Shafiq’s last three innings have been a fitting representation of the ever-changing fortunes of the Pakistan cricket team.
But Hales, seething after being dismissed cheaply to a low catch claimed by Yasir on the first morning and fined 15 per cent of his match fee in the aftermath, was bailed out when Steven Finn had the nightwatchman edging to a juggling yet safe Joe Root at second slip.
The England skipper dropped a straightforward chance at slip when Moeen managed to find the edge but two balls later in the same over, Wahab stepped out and missed the ball completely to get stumped. But Shafiq and Younis both lofted off-spinner Ali for huge straight sixes over long-on.
Alongside Azhar, Shafiq saw the visitors through to lunch on 97 for two.
Shafiq spent 17 balls on 99 before a quick single took him to a hundred in just over five hours off 164 balls with 12 fours and two sixes. Misbah was undone by extra bounce and edged to Hales while Ahmed miscued a pull shot and Ali took a diving catch at short mid-on.
Younis, 38, got to his hundred in 139 balls with 15 fours and a six.
Shafiq may equal Garry Sobers for the most amount of Test centuries made at number six, but as many have suggested for some time, his future belongs higher up the order for Pakistan – and while he may not be as young as his looks would imply, at 30 he has plenty of good years left in him.
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Younis reviewed but replays showed the ball just clipping leg stump.
