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MANCHESTER. — England suffered a dramatic top-order collapse that saw Ben Stokes out for a duck after Shan Masood’s brilliant century established a strong position for Pakistan in the first test at Old Trafford yesterday.
The hosts were 92 for four at stumps on the second day, after slumping to 12 for three, in reply to Pakistan’s first-innings 326 that featured opener Masood’s test-best 156.
Ollie Pope defied Pakistan to be 46 not out, with Jos Buttler unbeaten on 15. But England were still 234 runs behind with no more specialist batsmen left.
It took towering left-armer Shaheen Afridi just four balls to have Rory Burns lbw before Mohammad Abbas struck twice in quick succession.
Dom Sibley was plumb lbw before the accurate Abbas bowled Stokes, standing well out of his ground, with a superb ball that clipped the top of off-stump.
England were now 12 for three, with the cheers of Pakistan’s reserve players on the hotel balconies overlooking the ground trying to compensate for the absence of their passionate fans in what is a behind closed doors series because of the coronavirus.
Joe Root, the England captain, and Pope kept Pakistan at bay with a stand of exactly 50.
But legspinner Yasir Shah then had Root, who made a struggling 14 off 58 balls, well caught by wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan after the skipper edged an intended cut.
The day started brilliantly for England when, with Thursday’s sixth ball, James Anderson had Babar Azam edging to first-slip Root for 69 without Pakistan having then added to their overnight 139.
But, Masood pressed on to join a select group of Pakistan batsmen who have scored hundreds in three successive Test innings.
The 30-year-old left-hander batted for nearly eight hours in largely bowler-friendly conditions to surpass his previous Test-best of 135 against Sri Lanka in Karachi in December. — AFP.
Online Reporter