Pakistan were set a target of 343 to win the third Test after England declared their second innings on 445-6 on the fifth morning at Edgbaston yesterday.
At press time last night, Pakistan had moved to 125-4, requiring a further 218 runs, but with a minimum of 37 overs remaining, a draw looked to be their best hope.
Moeen Ali top-scored with 86 not out in England’s second innings, after helping Jonny Bairstow (83) add 152 in a sixth-wicket stand that took the game away from Pakistan.
Photo: Reuters
England batted on for just four overs on the fifth and final day, scoring 31 runs for the loss of Bairstow, LBW on review to Sohail Khan.
Ali struck 20 off the first over of the day from leg-spinner Yasir Shah, including two sixes and a four in consecutive deliveries.
When England captain Alastair Cook declared, it left Pakistan needing to set a new ground record if they were to go 2-1 up in the four-match series, with the highest fourth-innings score to win a Test at Edgbaston being South Africa’s 283-5 in 2008.
Photo: AFP
Pakistan were left with a minimum of 84 overs to score the runs they needed, a rate of slightly more than four per over, with that rate rising to nearly six.
ZIMBABWE, NZ
Staff writer
The hosts toiled for two more sessions as Ross Taylor went past his former mentor’s Test runs tally in another dominant day for New Zealand on their tour of Zimbabwe.
Taylor scored 124 not out to reach 5,529 runs — passing the total of 5,444 New Zealand great and former captain Martin Crowe scored in 77 Tests — to become the third-highest run scorer for his nation.
Crowe died this year after a battle with cancer.
Former captains Stephen Fleming (7,172) and Brendon McCullum (6,453) — both of whom are retired — remain ahead of Taylor.
Captain Kane Williamson also bolstered his statistics with 113, while he showed a ruthless streak in denying B.J. Watling (83 not out) a ton, declaring at tea on 582-4.
Zimbabwe were on 55-0 at press time last night, batting on a flat pitch.
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