Pakistan Vs England Test Series
Third Test Played At Ageas Bowl Southampton from 21st to 25th August 2020
Brief Scorecard at Stumps on Day Three
England 1st Innings 583 /8 Declared in 154.4 Overs (Zack Crawley 267, Jos Buttler 152, CR Woakes 40, JR Root 29, Fawad Alam 2/46, Shahin Afridi 2/141, Yasir Shah 2/ 173, Asad Shafiq 1/24 ), Pakistan 1st Innings 273 All Out in 93 Overs ( Azhar Ali 143*, Mohammad Rizwan 53, JM Anderson 5/ 56, SCJ Broad 2/ 40 )
England Enforced Follow On
Pakistan Trails by 310 runs with 10-second innings wickets at hand.
Vintage Anderson is on the cusp of entering history. England is on the verge of winning yet another test series. Taking his 29th five or more wickets haul in a test innings silent killer James Anderson is on the threshold of entering the very exclusive elite club of 600 wickets. He is on 597. If rain does not stand on his way, he is expected to reach there may be tomorrow or day after. Pakistan despite of monumental unbeaten 141 by captain Azhar Ali could not reach beyond 273. Leading by 310 runs in the first innings and appertain the prospect of rain and inclement weather England enforced the follow on. But bad light forced umpires calling it a day with still about 10 overs to play. Pakistan was reprieved for the day. Come what may, the fate of the match is carved out. England in any case has wrapped up the series.
England floored Pakistan by stumps of day two with Anderson alone decimating the innings removing three top order batsmen in the blink of an eye. Shan Masood, Abid Ali and the most importantly Babar Azom was sent back for only 24 on board. Wicket did not have venom. On the same wicket Zack Crawley and Joss Buttler over two days took the hell out of Pakistan bowling. It was brilliant exhibition of wonderful pace bowling. When play resumed on day three sky had some isolated but threatening grey cloud. But luckily only isolated passing shower made few brief interruptions before lunch. The careless batting of Asad Shafique made the rescuing act of Captain Azhar doubly difficult. Shafique threw away his wicket unnecessarily poking an Anderson delivery leaving. At 30/4 Pakistan was looking down the barrel. There was too little to do by Fawad Alom playing test cricket after a long layoff. Neverthless he tried his best. When he left Pakistan was in desperate situation at 75/5 still 508 runs in arrears. With their back to the wall Azhar and Rizwan produced a very useful 138 runs 6th wicket partnership. With sun shining and ball losing shine English bowling looked a bit flat. Some catches were floored. Yet the no praise would be enough the way Azhar batted and Rizwan also gave him company. But in the context of the match it was too little to less. When Rizwan caught behind off Woakes scoring 53 none but Yasir could stay with Azhar long enough. When Anderson completed his 29th 5 wickets haul picking the last wicket Azhar was kept stranded on brilliant 143. Pakistan was still 310 runs in arrear. Pakistan can still save the match earning a draw. The wicket is still playing well. English bowlers looked threatening only in brief spells. But otherwise if top order applies at least saving an innings defeat should not be too difficult a task. The not too bright weather forecast may also help the cause of Pakistan escaping a 2-0 series defeat.
The highlights of the last two days would definitely be England’s suing seam maestro James Anderson achieving the enviable height of first ever pace bowler taking 600 test wickets, a very exclusive club of test bowlers over all.
Azhar of course in the process of striking his 17th test century gone across to 6000 test runs. It was an innings of patience and quality.
Let us hope weather lets enough play on day four and five. Whatever be the outcome this series has already produced enough to quench the thirst of cricket admirers. To be fair Pakistan does deserve to end the series with an honorable draw in this test. They matched England so well throughout the series.
BDST: 1155 HRS, AUG 24, 2020
AP
