England 88/4, 126 runs behind after Pakistan made 542.

By Abdullah Ansari (13th August, 2016)

Toss: England won the toss, Alastair Cook chose to bat first.

Teams

Pakistan: Sami Aslam, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq (c), Asad Shafiq, Iftikhar Ahmed, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Yasir Shah, Mohammad Amir, Sohail Khan, Wahab Riaz.

England: AN Cook (c), AD Hales, JE Root, JM Vince, GS Ballance, JM Bairstow (wk), MM Ali, CR Woakes, SCJ Broad, ST Finn, JM Anderson.

Pakistan began Day 3 with Younis Khan and Sarfraz Ahmed at the crease, knowing that this was the last specialist batting pair with tailenders to follow and a small lead. That did not seem to perturb Sarfraz as he went about in his usual manner, moving around the crease and playing his shots. Younis was sedate at the other end at the start of the day, and when the fifty partnership came up, Sarfraz had around 40 of the runs. However, England started tightening the lines and it paid off as a good delivery from Woakes saw him edge behind for 44. Wahab Riaz came and Younis Khan started shielding the tail from the strike, as Pakistan went to Lunch at 417/7.

Younis started batting in a very methodical manner after Lunch, going for boundaries and twos and just trying to get singles towards the end of the over. Wahab defended his end well, but when Moeen came on, he ran down the pitch to the spinner and was stumped in bizarre fashion. Amir was the new batsman and Younis continued in a similar manner as he took the attack to Moeen, and also played some excellent shots against the pacers. Amir initially flashed hard when he got the strike, missing the ball but calmed down over time to play in a sensible manner. Younis played brilliantly in the mean-time, toying with the field and hitting out where he could, as he brought up his double hundred with a huge six over midwicket. Amir also gained confidence, hitting a few boundaries while Younis' innings eventually came to an end as he was LBW to Jimmy Anderson for 218, exactly double Asad Shafiq's score. Sohail Khan hung around for a bit but he wasn't able to stay there for Amir's maiden fifty as he was caught at midwicket, Amir remaining unbeaten on 39. Pakistan 542 all out, a lead of 214.

England began their innings in a conservative manner, understandably, as a win was almost ruled out. A couple of edges did not carry in the first few overs from both openers. However, Wahab Riaz came on and bowled a fiery delivery that got big on Cook, who edged it to Iftikhar, who was quite excited to have finally contributed. Thereafter, it was the Yasir Shah show as he first put Hales out of his misery who was LBW for 12, while Root perished soon LBW as well to the leg-spinner. Vince did not stick around for long, driving a ball uppishly straight to Misbah. Bairstow and Ballance then negotiated the last few overs safely as England finished the day at 88/4, 126 runs behind.

Summary: An excellent day for Pakistan thanks to Younis Khan's fantastic double-hundred. His innings ensured that Pakistan took a huge advantage, unlike at Edgbaston where the lead was only 103. He batted fantastically with the tailenders, and then the bowlers backed it up to put Pakistan in the driving seat. Pakistan will hope that they can wrap up the game on Day 4.

Fall of wickets:

7-397 (Sarfraz Ahmed, 110.1 ov)
8-434 (Wahab Riaz, 121.4 ov)
9-531 (Younis Khan, 142.1 ov)
10-542 (Sohail Khan, 145.6 ov)

1-14 (Cook, 9.2 ov)
2-49 (Hales, 17.6 ov)
3-55 (Vince, 19.4 ov)
4-74 (Root, 25.3 ov)

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