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England pegged again Pakistan from a commanding place within the first check at Old Trafford on Friday and arrange an exciting end.
Pakistan leveraged an imposing first-innings lead of 107 when it bowled out England for 219 on the third afternoon, but misplaced common wickets of its personal because it didn’t bat the house facet out of the sport.
At stumps, Pakistan was 244 forward on 137-8, nonetheless in a robust place but susceptible to a fourth-innings chase. That was largely all the way down to in-form seamers Chris Woakes and Stuart Broad, who shared 4 low cost wickets, but there was additionally an important double strike from Ben Stokes.
Not deemed match sufficient to play a full position with the ball resulting from a nagging quad harm, the allrounder stepped up late within the day so as to add the sheen to a robust fightback.
“I had no idea whether he was able to bowl or ready to bowl, but I’m not overly surprised that he could do what he did. That’s Ben Stokes, we know he’s capable of miracles,” Woakes stated.
“He’s got a bit of a golden arm, he always has had the knack of picking up wickets. When you are in a bit of a dogfight, he’s the sort of player you want in your team. He always puts his hand up and gives 110%.”
England started the day on 92-4, with Ollie Pope and Jos Buttler trying to reprise the rescue job they began the earlier night.
Pope shortly turned his 46 not out right into a a half-century but the primary hour was little greater than a trial for the batsmen. A paltry 9 runs got here off the bat in that point — outscored by 10 extras in the identical interval — because the three-pronged tempo assault of Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Abbas and Naseem Shah labored over England.
Naseem noticed off Pope for 62, with a size ball which kicked and flew to gully. Remarkably, that was the solitary success of the morning, Buttler and Woakes steering the rating to 159-5 as scoring possibilities belatedly opened.
Buttler, nonetheless burdened by three missed possibilities behind the stumps, scrapped onerous for his 38 but fell to his second ball after lunch. Yasir Shah was his downfall, sneaking one between bat and pad to clip the highest of off.
Yasir made quick work of Dom Bess, ousting him with flip and bounce earlier than taking his fourth of the innings when Woakes heaved in direction of leg and hit recent air.
England was in hassle at 170-8 but had Broad to thank for 2 tail-end stands which added 49 to the whole earlier than Shadab Khan intervened on each. Broad completed unbeaten on 29, with three boundaries in a row off Shaheen and a slog-swept six off Yasir beneath his belt.
There have been 9 overs earlier than tea for England to strike again and Broad did so nearly immediately, Shan Masood strangled down leg for a duck for a deflating follow-up to his epic 156. Buttler, who let him off twice within the first innings, was essentially the most relieved man on the park when the ball settled cleanly in his gloves.
James Anderson created a second probability when Abid Ali edged an away-swinger but Stokes went throughout Joe Root and fumbled. It was not a pricey miss, with the opener reaching 20 earlier than hacking Bess to deep midwicket.
Woakes held the catch safely but had a good larger job to do with the ball. He was the fifth bowler used but made a significant affect, rousing England with the 2 massive middle-order wickets.
First was Babar Azam for five, feeling outdoors off stump and giving Stokes the prospect to make up for his error, and subsequent got here skipper Azhar Ali, pinned lbw full on center stump on 18.
Once once more, Woakes was making a good case because the staff’s most harmful weapon in dwelling situations. Bess and Anderson didn’t maintain a lid on the scoring, going at nearly 4 an over, which means their captain needed to look elsewhere for inspiration.
Dom Sibley obliged when he rushed in from level to expire Shafiq after a poor name from Mohammad Rizwan, and Stokes put issues over his quad grievance apart to volunteer for his first bowl of the match.
He struck along with his eighth try, forcing Rizwan again and incomes a good lbw, and when Broad picked up Shadab by way of DRS the tail was well and actually open. Stokes bounced out Shaheen within the last over of the day, leaving every thing to play for.
If Pakistan can add 20 or 30 runs, spin advisor Mushtaq Ahmed stated legspinners Yasir Shah and Shadab Khan are adequate to defend it.
“They can be lethal,” Mushtaq stated. “Yasir and Shadab have hardly played cricket for the last five or six months, but the way they bowled in the first innings I think they’ve got the momentum now.
“They understand the pitch and what pace you need to bowl on it, what fields you need to have to different batsmen. I think they are feeling confident in their bowling now. We are very confident.”
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