Pakistan at tea on the third day of the first Test at Lord’s were on Nelsons (111) for the loss of 4 wickets. Earlier they had dismissed England for 272 within 35 minutes of the start of play in front of another capacity crowd in sunny almost warm morning with the temperature in the mid 20s and all players in shirt sleeves (no sweaters required). England overnight 253 for 7 lost 3 wickets pretty quickly – Broad was yorked by a snorter from Wahab Riaz; Finn was lbw to Yasir Shah (4th lbw in his 6 wickets) while the innings was wrapped up by a run out when Jake Ball trying for the second run was beaten by a flat and accurate throw from Shan Masood from the deep for Wahab to remove the bails. Pakistan obtained what could turn out to be a decisive lead of 67.
Pakistan started disastrously when Hafeez handed a chest high catch to Joe Root in the slips off Stuart Broad. Hafeez got a duck and Pakistan were 2/1. Shan Masood and Azhar Ali tried to steady the ship and put on 42 before both fell in quick succession. Shan well caught in the slips by Cook of the now danger man Woakes, who soon after had Azhar Ali lbw for a second time in the match. Both Shan and Asad got a start but did not cash in – out in the 20s just when they looked set for a substantial partnership. 59/3 became 60/4 when captain Misbahul Haq perhaps wary of the slow run rate of his batsmen skied Mueen Ali to deep midwicket for Alex hales to take a fine running catch near the boundary line. Misbah lasted 2 deliveries and did not trouble the scorer being out for a rare duck. Run to the record books and check out a century and a duck by batsmen in the same test match.
Younus who seemed to be struggling without giving his wicket away much to the chagrin of the England team and supporters and the calm, collected and correct Asad Shafiq took the score to 111 for 4 at tea with Azhar the more aggressive of the two. They have till tea put on 51 for the 5th wicket.
The pitch is showing signs of some wear and there are a few rough patches; it has also become double paced and Pakistan, if they succeed in getting a lead of 280 to 300, should be well satisfied. Remember a lot depends on this pair and also on Sarfraz who is to come. Not much can be expected from Amir, Wahab, Yasir and Rahat with the bat – but who knows? With Mueen extracting turn from the pitch, Yasir Shah must be rubbing his hands with glee.
England will endeavour to keep their target as low and as gettable as possible but anything above 280 will be a difficult task with Pakistan having a trio of left arm pace bowlers and a top class leg spinner.
LATEST: After tea Younus Khan trying to go for some quick runs (he was 19 not out from 89 balls) has been bowled by Mueen Ali for 25 (129/5) and at the moment with Sarfaraz joining Asad who is 42 Pakistan have managed to be 152/5 with Sarfraz doing the bulk of the scoring at a quick pace. . Pakistan are 219 runs ahead with 5 wickets in hand.24 overs remain for the day with two more days of play left.