DAY FIVE: MATCH DRAWN
So, an interesting session of play to end what has been a frustrating Test match. Good seam bowling from the Pakistanis, Mohammad Abbas in particular. Zak Crawley and Dom Sibley batted well to carve out a partnership of 91 runs for the second wicket. Then, a cluster of wickets: Crawley and Sibley dismissed by Abbas, and Pope undone by what appeared to be a quicker one that came in with the angle from Yasir Shah.
It would have been a nice contest had rain not intervened. But we have the third Test to look forward to, now. Join us for that one. It starts on 21 August. Hopefully, we'll have more game-time in that one.
Until then, it's goodbye.
Here's the report of all the day's action.
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POST-MATCH COMMENTS
"The best thing out of this Test match, the bowlers didn't have to bowl too much," says Azhar Ali, the Pakistan captain.
"Disappointing not to get too much cricket," says Root. "Thought we played excellent today. Great experience for us to get through today."
"In England we may have to start half hour early if we've lost time. We had a week of very strange circumstances. We have to try to get through it as professionally as possible."
"All guys are in contention for the next Test."
The player of the match is Mohammad Rizwan. "Quite challenging keeping in England, practised extra for it and practised with a tape ball," Rizwan says.
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. Azhar Ali comes on to bowl. Runs in off a few steps, gets the ball to move away, and nearly an edge! A few smiles, and that's it. It's a draw.
England declares its innings closed. The players shake hands.
. A maiden over from Yasir. 110/4.
. Root shuffles across to the off-side to Abbas and clips the ball off his legs to midwicket. Picks up three more. A shout for lbw, but the impact would have been umpire's call. Not given, and not reviewed by Pakistan. Buttler the batsman in question. 110/4.
. A googly from Yasir; it comes into Jos Buttler, who attempts to work it away to the leg side but gets only an inside edge. Three runs picked up by Root on the second ball of that over. 107/4.
. Another excellent delivery from Abbas, nearly another edge. Joe Root can only smile. Pitched on a good length, moving away just slightly after pitching. 107/4.
. A quicker delivery from Yasir, it comes into Ollie Pope after pitching. It rushes in, and Pope tries to get a bat on that, but it's pad first. Given out! Pope reviews, but doesn't succeed in overturning the decision. Was that the googly? Probably not, it just came in with the angle. 105/4.
. Three slips, a gully, and a short cover for Mohammad Abbas as he bowls to Ollie Pope. Five dot balls and then a boundary. The final delivery was a bit too straight; on the pads, worked away off the legs. 104/3.
. A full delivery, driven to mid-off by Joe Root. A single. And then a late cut from Pope, three runs. That brings up the 100 for England. 100/3.
. Ollie Pope is off the mark with a single. Five dot balls from Mohammad Abbas. 95/3.
. Two new batsmen in the middle: Root and Ollie Pope. Neither of them are off the mark. Two runs off the over from Yasir. Root attempts a sweep off the final delivery; misses. 94/3.
. And Abbas has another! Sibley is caught behind this time, strangled down the leg side. Was it deliberate? Maybe. Sibley gets a slight tickle and the Pakistan team is gleeful. 92/3.
. Yasir bowls full and outside or on off-stump. Defended by the batsmen. A single taken by Sibley. 92/2.
. Joe Root survives a few scares in the over from Abbas, a couple of excellent deliveries from him. Slight movement away after pitching and Root is squared up and nearly caught behind on both occasions. After he is beaten the first time, Root adjusts by coming across to the off-side, but despite this, he cannot prevent an encore. Excellent over. 91/2.
. Mohammad Abbas back into the attack. First ball - it pitches on a good length, a hint of movement after pitching, and Crawley is struck on the back leg. It's given out. Challenged by the batsman. The third umpire confirms that 'wickets hitting' would be the call of the umpire. Out. 91/2.
. Crawley gets a long hop from Yasir and he pulls it away for a boundary. That brings up his half-century. He gets a full, wide delivery and he sweeps to pick up a single. 91/1.
. Shan Masood is getting the ball to shape away off the seam after pitching. He bowls a full delivery on middle stump, Sibley plays the drive, it catches the inside half of the bat, it runs away to midwicket and a couple of runs are taken. 86/1.
. The last delivery of the over from Yasir stays too low. But no harm done, it caught the bottom edge of the bat and the ball is grounded. Two singles from the over. 84/1.
. Shan Masood dishes up a full toss and it's nicely driven down the ground - there's no long-on - for a four by Crawley. Later in the over, he gets a short and wide one and slashes hard, collecting a boundary through third man. He plays a nice cut shot on the final delivery, but there's a deep cover in place, so it's only a single. 82/1.
. Crawley comes down the track to Yasir, yorks himself, but Rizwan misses the stumping. A single is taken on the final delivery; it's a full delivery, Crawley leans out for a drive. 72/1.
. Shan Masood to bowl now. He is labelled as a fast-medium bowler. He bowls an overpitched delivery first up, Crawley drives and picks up two runs. And later in the over, he picks up a single through point. And he nearly draws out an outside edge off the bat of Sibley; it probably seamed away slightly. But due to his pace - rather the lack of it - the ball bounces before reaching Rizwan. 72/1.
. It's the turn of Sibley to come down the pitch to Yasir, he picks up a boundary through midwicket. Then, Sibley stays in his crease and plays a late - a bit too late, probably, as the slip fielder was in business - and picks up three runs through third man. And then a single taken by Crawley. 69/1.
. From around the wicket, Afridi pitches one up to the batsman and the batsman obliges with a drive through extra-cover. 61/1.
. It's time for some spin bowling. Yasir Shah into the attack. He replaces Naseem Shah. A slip in place for him. Crawley comes down the pitch and lofts him over mid-off for a boundary. He goes down the pitch again but picks up only a single after patting one to long-on. There's some turn on the final delivery; perhaps it's a little slower, and it turns away a bit after pitching on a good length. Left alone by Sibley. Five from the over. 57/1.
. Very little swing on display, perhaps because the conditions are not overcast. But it's still another probing over from Shaheen Afridi; he gets the deliveries to angle across the right-hander from over the wicket. A maiden. 52/1.
. No change in line in the entire over, the variation is in his length, in his fifth over. Apart from the final delivery, that is; it's full and straight, and duly flicked to midwicket for a single. 52/1.
. A no-ball from Shaheen Afridi, called retrospectively (by the third umpire) brings up the 50 for England. And then a wide - it's a short-pitched delivery that flies through to the wicketkeeper who had to leap to pouch it. It cleared Crawley's height comfortably. 51/1 after 20 overs.
. Naseem comes around the wicket and bowls a couple of short deliveries to Sibley. It's ducked, and left alone. And those are followed by a full delivery outside off which is squirted away by Sibley off the outside edge. A boundary through third man. 49/1.
. Shaheen Afridi is back. Sibley gets down on his knee and square drives a full delivery outside off. It's a boundary. Two more singles, and it's six from the over. 44/1.
. In the corridor and seaming away: Naseem has a similar line and length to Abbas, but with more pace. In his third over, he gives away three runs, a single and a double, off deliveries that are too straight or down the leg side. 38/1.
. Abbas gets one to pitch on off-stump and move in sharply like an off-spinner! Crawley didn't expect that; he may have prepared himself to leave it alone as he does in the rest of the over. The ball hits him on the stomach. A maiden. 35/1.
. Naseem bowls a better line and length in this over. Pragmatically dealt with by both batsmen. A single to midwicket taken. 35/1.
. Abbas's metronomical accuracy is on display finally. It's a maiden, with a few oohs and aahs as his deliveries miss the outside edge of the batsman's bat. 34/1.
. Naseem Shah replaces Shaheen Afridi. Lots of pace, but he is taking time to settle into a consistent line and length. Starts off with a wide delivery down the leg side, then bowls full outside off and gets an edge off Crawley's bat (it doesn't carry), then another down the leg-side, and a few full ones to finish the over. He bowls a no-ball as well, in that over. 34/1.
. Abbas bowls a wayward delivery - it's full, outside the leg-stump - and it's worked away by Dom Sibley for a couple. And then he corrects himself and resumes bowling in the corridor. He gets one to pitch on off-stump, on a good length or slightly full, and the ball swings so sharply after pitching it's like a leg-break. Before the end of the over, another wayward delivery, but no run taken as Sibley's flick goes straight to the fielder at short midwicket. 33/1.
. A full delivery on leg-stump is flicked to midwicket for three runs. It seemed not far away from the leaping fielder at mid-on but replays suggested he was far away from the ball. A leg-bye, and it's four runs from the over bowled by Shaheen Afridi. 31/1.
. A full-length delivery - the batsman made it full as he stands a metre or two away from his crease - is squirted away to point for a single. That's the only run in that over as Abbas continues to bowl in the corridor. 27/1.
. Shaheen Afridi bowling at a lively pace makes for good viewing. There's bounce on offer as well. Crawley drives when he gets a full delivery, and picks up three runs. And Sibley gets one on his pads; he works it away to fine leg for two leg-byes. There was a single taken on the first ball of that over as well. 26/1.
. A short delivery from Abbas - at Abbas's pace it's a long-hop really - and it's pulled away off the front foot by Zak Crawley for a boundary. That sat up to be hit. And then another. He gets a short-of-a-length delivery outside off - there's width on offer - and it's slapped away to the cover boundary. Eight runs from that over. 20/1.
. It's shining brightly at Rose Bowl, something we've hardly seen since the start of the Test. Bowling from over the wicket, Shaheen gets a delivery from pitch on a good-length on middle stump and it's left alone by Sibley; the next delivery is full, into the pads, slightly shaping into the right-hander. Sibley gets an inside edge to that; if that hadn't hit the bat it would have been a good lbw shout. A maiden over. 12/1.
. An runs straightaway. Mohammad Abbas bowls a no-ball first up, its nudged to leg by Zak Crawley for a single. Dom Sibley gets a short delivery outside off-stump and he squirts it away to third man for three more. Shouts of 'oh' by Pakistan's fielders as the ball narrowly avoids the outside edge of Crawley's bat en route to the wicketkeeper. 12/1.
. We do not have enough time for a result, in this game. But we may tighten our belts for some good swing-bowling exhibition.
. Some good news, finally: Play will begin at 3.20pm local time (7.50pm IST).
. Another inspection scheduled for 2.20pm local time (6.50pm IST).
. There will be another inspection at 1.40pm local time (6.10pm IST).
. There will be an inspection in about half-an-hour, at 12.55pm local time (17.25 IST)
. Bad news: it's started to rain again in Southampton.
. It's not raining at Rose Bowl at the moment, but the outfield and the pitch are wet. We don't know when play can begin, it all depends on the umpires' assessment. Play on Day Five won't start on time, though.
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--James Anderson remained on 593 but Stuart Broad climbed up to 511 when he dismissed Rizwan in the first session on Day Four. With nine more wickets, he will overtake West Indies' Courtney Walsh, who finished his career with 519 wickets. And Broad's four-wicket haul was his 23rd in Test cricket.
England should tour Pakistan for a series in 2022: Akram
--The catch Asad Shafiq took yesterday to dismiss Rory Burns took him to 63rd in the list of fielders with most catches in their Test careers. That was his 77th catch. Just three players from Pakistan are above him in that list: Inzamam-ul-Haq, with 81 catches; Javed Miandad, with 93 catches; and Younis Khan, with 139 catches.
-- The 222 minutes he batted in the first innings was the most time Pakistan's Mohammad Rizwan had spent batting in an innings in his Test career. Not that it was an entirely dour knock; there was plenty of enterprise in his innings. Rizwan spent seven minutes less when he scored his career-best 95 against Australia in Brisbane last year.
-- Rory Burns got out for a duck yesterday, undone by an expert delivery from Shaheen Afridi in the first over of England's innings. That was the second duck of his Test career. The first was during the Ashes series of last year, in the second innings of the fourth Test at Old Trafford. He has had a torrid time in this series, having scored a total of 14 runs across two innings in the first Test.
With just one innings completed, there remains only a remote possible of any decisive result other than a draw in this Test match, even if we get a full day's play today, which seems unlikely. On Day Four , Shaheen Afridi and Mohammad Abbas made batsmen dance to their tunes in the brief period of play in the morning, after Pakistan was bowled out for 236. Perhaps that's what we must look forward to today, regardless of the final result, some fine swing-bowling exhibition.
The weather isn't likely to be very different from the last two days. Says the BBC , "Light rain showers and a moderate breeze."
Where and when can you watch Pakistan vs England LIVE?
Pakistan vs England will be aired LIVE only on SONY SIX channels from 3.30 pm onwards. It will be available for live streaming on SONY LIV.
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