Sharjah, Nov. 3: Opener Mohammad Hafeez notched a brilliant 97 under pressure to help Pakistan stage a comeback in the third and final Test against England in Sharjah on Tuesday.
Sharjah, Nov. 3: Opener Mohammad Hafeez notched a brilliant 97 under pressure to help Pakistan stage a comeback in the third and final Test against England in Sharjah on Tuesday.
The 35-year-old was just three runs away from his ninth Test hundred as he took Pakistan to 146/3 at the close on the third day at Sharjah Stadium, leading by 74 runs with seven wickets intact.
Nightwatchman Rahat Ali was the other not out batsman on nought as Pakistan lost the key wicket of Younis Khan for 14, trapped leg-before by fast bowler Stuart Broad with just two overs to go in the day.
Earlier, off-spinner Shoaib Malik took a career best 4-33 as England were bowled out for 306 in their first innings, taking a 72-run lead over Pakistan’s total of 234. James Taylor top-scored with 76.
Pakistan were lucky not to lose Hafeez after Australian umpire Bruce Oxenford gave him caught behind off paceman James Anderson in the fifth over of the innings with the score on four.
But Hafeez, then on two, challenged the decision and got away on referral as television replays showed there was a gap between ball and bat, much to the relief of the Pakistan camp.
Hafeez said he was happy to lead the fightback. Hafeez said that they need to bat like they did on day three and was hopeful of them taking a big lead. Scoreboard Pakistan (1st innings): 234. England (1st innings): A.Cook c Ali b Shah 49, M. Ali c Younis b Malik 14, I. Bell st Ahmed b Shah 40, J. Root c Ahmed b Rahat 4, J. Taylor c Ahmed b Rahat 76, J. Bairstow b Babar 43, S. Patel b Shah 42, Adil Rashid c Ali b Malik 8, S. Broad (not out) 13, J. Anderson b Malik 7, B. Stokes b Malik 0. Extras: (lb6, nb4) 10. Total (in 126.5 overs) 306. FoW: 1-19, 2-90, 3-97, 4-139, 5-228, 6-245, 7-285, 8-287, 9-296. Bowling: Rahat 22-12-48-2, Shah 36-3-99-3, Riaz 20-5-33-0, Babar 37-6-80-1, Malik 9.5-3-33-4, Ali 2-0-7-0. Pakistan (2nd innings): M. Hafeez (batting) 97, Azhar Ali (run out) 34, Shoaib Malik lbw b Anderson 0, Younis Khan lbw b Broad 14, Rahat Ali (batting) 0. Extras: (lb1) 1. Total (for 3 wkts, in 53 overs) 146. FoW: 1-101, 2-105, 3-146. Bowling: Anderson 14-5-36-1, Broad 12-4-19-1, Patel 11-0-40-0, Ali 6-1-25-0, Rashid 10-2-25-0.
