ENGLAND IN COMMANDING POSITION IN SECOND TEST
Despite a colossal first innings lead of 391, England decided not to enforce the follow-on and began their second innings ten minutes before tea which was taken half-an-hour earlier than the rescheduled break because of two rain stoppages. They were 11 without loss and in overall lead by 402 into the final session of the third day. Pakistan are unlikely to save this match unless greatly helped by the wet conditions at Manchester.
Earlier, resuming on a precarious position of 57 for four Pakistan lost their first wicket of the day within five overs when Shan Masood, having added just nine to his overnight score of 30, edged a rising ball from James Anderson to second slip. Pakistan’s hopes of a recovery of some sort lay with Misbahul-Haq and Asad Shafiq the last of the specialist batsmen. But they were only able to add 5 runs when Shafiq drove a ball from Stuart Broad, outside off stump and on the up for a catch at points which reduced the tourists to 76 for six.
Pakistan’s next two wickets went after a double bowling change. Sarfraz Ahmed hit a quick-fire 26 from 18 balls with 20 of those runs coming from fours before he went forward to a ball from Ben Stokes which was a little short of length and he got a thick edge to second slip and that was 112 for seven. Seven runs later Root held his fourth catch of the innings when Yasir Shah got a thick edge pushing at Chris Woakes on the stroke of tea.
Pakistan’s ninth wicket partnership between Misbah and Wahab Riaz had the highest stand of the innings with 60 runs from 91 balls. During that stand Misbah reached his 33rd Test half century and was the only batsman to play the England bowling with a semblance of confidence. He was cautious nevertheless with Pakistan having lost wickets cheaply and had only the tail-enders to bat with. But
England eventually claimed his wicket on 179 when he top-edged a sweep at Moeen Ali for Alastair Cook to take the simple catch at short backward square leg. He had been quite at ease facing Moeen earlier playing several sweep shots as well as the reverse sweep but the bearded England off spinner finally had his say.
Wahab went on to add 19 useful runs for the last wicket with Mohammad Amir until his heave at Moeen landed in the hands of Alex Hales just inside the long-on boundary with the Pakistan total on 198. Thirty of Wahab’s 39 runs had come from boundaries which included the only six of the innings. He had faced 61 balls in just under an hourand-a-half at the crease. It was weak batting by Pakistan throughout their first innings and England bowlers made full use of the cloudy conditions after the first two days of sunshine. England first innings: .................... 589/8 decl Pakistan first innings (O/n: 57/4): M Hafeez c Root b Woakes .................................... 18 S Masood c Root b Anderson ................................. 39 A Ali c and b Woakes .................................................1 Y Khan c Bairstow b Stokes .......................................1 R Ali c Ballance b Woakes .........................................4 Misbah c Cook b Ali ............................................... 52 A Shafiq c Hales b Broad ...........................................4 S Ahmed c Root b Stokes ....................................... 26 Y Shah c Root b Woakes ............................................1 W Riaz c Hales b Ali................................................ 39 M Amir (not out) .......................................................9 Extras (LB-2, NB-2) ........................................ 4 Total (all out, 63.4 overs) .......................... 198 Fall of wickets: 1-27, 2-43, 3-48, 4-53, 5-71, 6-76, 7-112, 8-119, 9-179. Bowling: Anderson 13-5-27-1; Broad 12-5-20-1, Ali 7.4-0-43-2, Woakes 16-1-67-4; Stokes 15-1-39-2. ENGLAND SECOND INNINGS A Cook (batting) ........................................................9 A Hales (batting) .......................................................2 Extras: ......................................................... 0 Total (For no wicket, 2.4 overs) .................... 11 Bowling: Amir 1.4-0-4-0, Rahat 1-0-7-0