England stumble against Pakistan at lunch on Day 3 of the 2nd Test at Dubai
England stumble against Pakistan at lunch on Day 3 of the 2nd Test at Dubai
England were dismantled for a paltry score of 242 at lunch on day 3 of the 2nd Test against England at Dubai. After being in a commendable position at stumps on Day 2, England witnessed a dramatic collapse of their batting-order as seven wickets were scalped in a session. Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow resumed batting from their overnight score of 182 for 3 with both of them being unbeaten at 76 and 27 respectively. Wahab Riaz bowled a sensational spell in the morning session of Day 3 and chipped three English wickets one after the other. Most importantly, he got the prize wicket of Joe Root as everyone knows the huge price he puts on his wicket. Moments later, he got the better of Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler and broke the spine of English batting. This gave Yasir Shah a great opportunity to decimate the tail and he rightly did so. Both Wahab and Yasir didn’t let England get back into the game as the momentum was totally shifted towards Pakistan. LIVE CRICKET SCORECARD: Pakistan vs England 2015, 2nd Test at Dubai
Root played on his instincts and nicked one safely onto the hands of Sarfraz Ahmed behind the stumps. Stokes too and Buttler to edged couple of good deliveries from Wahab and all catches were taken by Sarfraz. Yasir made the utmost use of the turn and cleaned the tailenders along with the key wicket of Jonny Bairstow with his guile. Adil Rashid was beaten by the flight and landed up in the hands of Mohammad Hafeez at covers. Yasir bowled a flatter one to Bairstow which struck him on his pads and ruled out by the umpire. Mark Wood was taken at slips by Younis Khan as Yasir had enough variations to trouble the tailenders and clean them up. LIVE UPDATES: Pakistan vs England 2015, 2nd Test at Dubai, Day 3
England were in an awful position, Stuart Broad and James Anderson provided some resistance before the latter was tested with a short pitched delivery from Imran Khan. England were bowled out for a shocking total 242 after looking good to overtake Pakistan’s total of 378. Pakistan will start on with a lead of 136 post-lunch and now have the ball in their court. The balance is heavily tilted in the hosts favour and will require a valiant effort from the visitors to make a comeback into the Test from here on. England will be pretty disappointed by this effort and will essk a revival of fortunes as their bowlers put in the hard yards in the second session of Day 3.
Brief scores:
Pakistan 378 all out (Misbah-ul-Haq 102, Asad Shafiq 83; Mark Wood 3 for 39) lead England 242 all out (Alastair Cook 65, Joe Root 88; Wahab Riaz 4 for 66) by 136 runs.