RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (AP) December,4 — Rampant England pushed its first test in Pakistan in 17 years to an exciting last-day finish after setting a brave target of 343 runs for the home team on Sunday.
Pakistan ended the fourth day at 80-2, needing a further 263 runs in a maximum of 90 overs left in the first test of the three-match series.
First innings centurion Imam-ul-Haq was not out on 43 off 60 balls while one of four Pakistan debutants, Saud Shakeel, was lucky to be there on 24 after Keaton Jennings couldn’t hold on to a two-handed catch close to the wicket in the penultimate over of the day.
Ben Stokes’ plan to start with a barrage of short-pitched balls paid dividends for England in the final session after the tourists declared their second innings at 264-7 at tea for an overall lead of 342.
“We’re confident we can do it,” England’s assistant coach Paul Collingwood said. “The boys have shown that they’ll come up with different plans and different ways… it’s going to be an exciting day tomorrow.
“Some might say it’s an early declaration, (but) we’re not scared of losing and I think that’s a really good position to be in.”
Abdullah Shafique (6), one of the three Pakistan first innings century-makers, fell into England’s trap and pulled to Ollie Robinson in the deep before Azhar Ali was struck on his right index finger in the same over and left the field in pain.
Stokes, who shared the new ball with Robinson, got the faint inside edge of Babar Azam off another short pitch ball to reduce Pakistan to 25-2 before the two left-handers — Imam and Shakeel — batted confidently to produce a 55-run stand until Jennings’ missed opportunity.
In its first innings, Pakistan’s lower order dug in to reduce England’s lead before getting dismissed for 579.
“The aim in the camp is to win the match,” said Pakistan middle-order batter Agha Salman, who did the bulk of Pakistan’s scoring on Day 4. “We were expecting them to make a challenging declaration because that is the way they’ve been playing for quite some time now.”
And England didn’t sit back on a wicket still conducive to batting and pushed its bid for victory with yet another electrifying display with the bat from the top order in the second session.
Joe Root smashed 73 and Harry Brook followed his belligerent century in the first innings with 87 off 65 balls before getting bowled by fast bowler Naseem Shah (2-66).
England added a brisk 218 runs in the second session to finish the innings with a rapid run rate of 7.4 an over, which matched its first-innings aggression that saw the visitors rack up an electrifying total of 657.
Despite losing first-innings century-makers Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope, England underlined its plan of setting up a target for Pakistan in reaching 46-2 in seven overs before lunch.
Pakistan’s inexperienced bowling resources were further reduced when debutant fast bowler Haris Rauf couldn’t recover from his strained right quad and was unable to bowl in the second innings. Root finished his half-century when leg spinner Zahid Mahmoud (2-84) sacked him when Naseem failed to hold his backswing with a blanket, then sacked Stokes for a duck in a single over. I survived the horror that followed.
Previously, off-spinner Will Jacks, who made his last-minute Test debut after Ben Fawkes sat down with the virus, was 6-161 on wickets and had several bowlers before Pakistan were finally bowled out. brought some benefits.
Pakistani tailors annoyed England for almost 1.5 hours
