England edged to a slender five-run lead over Pakistan at the close as 16 wickets fell during an extraordinary opening day of the third and final Test at Dubai Stadium yesterday.
Routed for a low score of 99 in their first innings by England pacemen Stuart Broad (4-36) and James Anderson (3-35), Pakistan’s spinners moved to the fore to leave England struggling at 104-6.
England, playing for pride after losing the first two Tests and the series, now hold a slight lead on a seemingly batting-friendly pitch.
Photo: AFP
At the close, Andrew Strauss was unbeaten on 41 and James Anderson was on 3 not out.
Paceman Umar Gul led Pakistan’s fightback by dismissing opener Alastair Cook (1) and Jonathan Trott (2), before Strauss added 57 for the third wicket with Kevin Pietersen (32) during their bids to overcome batting frailties.
England’s batting had flopped during their two-wicket defeat in the first Test in Dubai and in the 72-run defeat in the second match in Abu Dhabi.
Pakistani spinners Abdul Rehman and Saeed Ajmal, who grabbed 34 of the 40 wickets in the first two Tests, then grabbed four more wickets, with Rehman dismissing Pietersen and Eoin Morgan (10) and Ajmal accounting for Bell (5).
Pietersen’s dismissal made it 34 LBW dismissals for the series, beating the previous record of 33 in the Pakistan-West Indies series in the Caribbean in 1993.
Rehman, who took 3-23, then bowled Matt Prior (6) with England just one behind Pakistan.
Earlier in the morning, England’s pace duo of Broad and Anderson bowled well to expose Pakistan, who won the toss and batted. Asad Shafiq top-scored with 45.
Anderson struck in the first over, trapping opener Taufiq Umar for a duck.
Broad then clicked into gear, snaring Ali in his third over through a caught behind and Younis in his next, caught off a rising delivery, again by wicketkeeper Prior.
He then claimed Hafeez’s wicket trapping him LBW. Australian umpire Simon Taufel initially turned down the appeal, but changed the decision after England called for a review.
Hafeez mocked the decision review system and may face a hearing from match referee Jeff Crowe of New Zealand after the day’s play.
From the other end, Anderson trapped Misbah-ul-Haq for 1 in a decision challenged by the Pakistani skipper to no avail. That left Pakistan struggling at 21-5.
Shafiq and Adnan Akmal (6) added 18 for the sixth wicket before Broad changed ends to dismiss the wicketkeeper, again with a sharp incoming delivery, which caught the batsmen in front of the stumps.
Graeme Swann then teased a miscued a drive from Rehman (1), gathered by a grateful Pietersen at mid-off, leaving Pakistan in danger of being bowled out for their lowest-ever Test total — 53 against Australia in 2002.
Shafiq hit his first boundary in the last over before lunch to take Pakistan to that lowest mark and then hit another off left-arm spinner Monty Panesar to avoid the ignominy.
However, Panesar, who took 2-25, had the last laugh, breaking the 34-run stand — the best of the innings — between Ajmal (12) and Shafiq after lunch.
Gul made 13 before Anderson bowled him to wrap up the innings.
England resisted the temptation to change their lineup, but Pakistan brought paceman Aizaz Cheema for Junaid Khan.
Inter on Sunday were given a letoff when they snatched a late 1-1 derby draw with AC Milan, while league leaders SSC Napoli were held by a late goal at AS Roma. Reigning champions Inter remain three points behind Napoli, who looked to be heading five clear as they led in Rome until Angelino volleyed in a stunning leveler in the first minute of stoppage-time. Angelino’s strike gave even more significance to Stefan de Vrij’s last-gasp equalizer at the San Siro. The defender forced home Nicola Zalewski’s knockdown just as it looked like Tijjani Reijnders’ opener would be enough for Milan. “I can
The Washington Capitals and Winnipeg Jets on Saturday did not disappoint in a thrilling midseason matchup in front of a fired-up sellout crowd of more than 18,500 fans. The top two teams in the NHL delivered with a combined nine goals, including the 877th of Alex Ovechkin’s career to put him 18 back of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s record. That tied the score, the Jets pulled it out in overtime and just about everyone involved got their money’s worth out of the 5-4 game. “We knew how we were both sitting in the standings and both having real good years,” Winnipeg coach Scott
BACK-TO-BACK: The League One club, which is owned by stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, is sparing no expense to clinch promotion to the Championship Hollywood endings are pricey, even in England’s third division. In pursuit of their third straight promotion, Wrexham AFC splashed some cash at League One rival Reading to secure the services of striker Sam Smith. The Welsh club owned by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney confirmed the signing of the 26-year-old Smith on Friday. He is one of the top scorers in the third division. The transfer fee was not disclosed, but British media widely reported it to be about £2 million (US$2.48 million) — not extravagant, but a hefty price at this level and it would be about the same figure that
Less than a week after splashing out a world-record fee for Naomi Girma, Chelsea has spent big again to bring England midfielder Keira Walsh back to the English Women’s Super League. Walsh left European champions Barcelona after more than two years to join Chelsea for a reported £400,000 (US$496,000) on Friday. Walsh was the world’s most expensive player for two years after moving to Barcelona from Manchester City for a reported £400,000 in 2022. That status now belongs to Girma, the US defender who cost Chelsea a reported £900,000 to sign from the San Diego Wave. Still, it means 27-year-old Walsh — a technically