Skipper Misbah-ul-Haq and Asad Shafiq steadied Pakistan’s innings after England paceman Stuart Broad took two wickets in the post-lunch session on the opening day of the second Test yesterday.
Broad dismissed Younis Khan (24) and Azhar Ali (24) to give England a further edge after they dismissed Mohammad Hafeez and Taufiq Umar early to derail Pakistan, who won the toss and batted on a turning Abu Dhabi Stadium pitch.
Pakistan reached tea at 177-4, with Misbah (32) and Shafiq (39) adding 74 for an unbroken fifth-wicket stand.
Photo: AFP
England, aiming to level the three-Test series after losing the first Test by 10 wickets in Dubai last week, were rewarded for picking two spinners in Graeme Swann and recalled left-armer Monty Panesar as they introduced spin in the 10th over.
Hafeez and Umar, who put on 114 for the opening wicket in the first Test, negotiated the first hour without any discomfort, before Swann gave England the breakthrough.
Umar misjudged a delivery and lost his off stump after seemingly playing no stroke on 16.
Panesar, brought in to replace paceman Chris Tremlett — flying home after a recurrence of a back injury — dropped Hafeez off his own bowling, but he had the Pakistan opener bowled off the very next ball.
Hafeez made 31 with four boundaries.
Broad then chipped in with the wickets of Younis and Ali, both bowled by inswinging deliveries to leave Pakistan struggling at 103-4.
Misbah hit Panesar for two towering sixes and benefited from a dropped catch when on 30 as James Anderson failed to hold a sharp chance in the slips.
The inclusion of Panesar, playing his first Test since the July 2009 Ashes Test in Cardiff, is the first time England have played with two spinners since the Dhaka Test against Bangladesh in early 2010.
Pakistan also made one change from their first Test lineup, bringing in left-arm paceman Junaid Khan for Aizaz Cheema.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later