Watchful England eke out narrow lead over Pakistan
BIRMINGHAM – England lost the wickets of Alastair Cook and Alex Hales as they moved cautiously on to 183 for two at lunch on an attritional fourth morning of the third Test against Pakistan in Birmingham on Saturday.
The hosts led by 80 runs with eight wickets remaining, leaving the match finely poised with five sessions to go.
Cook, on 66, drove loosely at a wide ball from Sohail Khan and Yasir Shah took a fine diving catch at point before Hales, on 54, edged Mohammad Amir to Younus Khan at second slip.
The Pakistan seamers bowled wide of off stump to restrict the scoring rate and Joe Root, who looked to be suffering with a back injury, and James Vince struggled to break the shackles.
Root reached the interval on 34 not out with Vince on 20.
The four-match series is level at 1-1.
SCOREBOARD
England 1st innings 297 (G. Ballance 70, M. Ali 63; S. Khan 5-96) Pakistan 1st innings 400 (A. Ali 139, S. Aslam 82, Misbah-ul-Haq 56) England 2nd innings (Overnight: 120-0) A. Cook c Shah b So. Khan 66 A. Hales c Y. Khan b Amir 54 J. Root not out 34 J. Vince not out 20 Extras (b-1 lb-4 nb-4) 9 Total (for 2 wickets, 63 overs) 183 Fall of wickets: 1-126 A. Cook,2-126 A. Hales To bat: G. Ballance, J. Bairstow, C. Woakes, M. Ali, S. Broad, J. Anderson, S. Finn Bowling M. Amir 18 - 4 - 44 - 1 So. Khan 14 - 1 - 62 - 1(nb-4) R. Ali 12 - 5 - 27 - 0 Y. Shah 19 - 3 - 45 - 0 Referees Umpire: Bruce Oxenford Umpire: Joel Wilson TV umpire: Kumar Dharmasena Match referee: Richie Richardson. –Reuters
