Published: Aug 26, 2020, 09:19 AM (IST)
Edited: Aug 26, 2020, 09:22 AM (IST)
James Anderson’s historic 600th wicket and a first Test series win at home against Pakistan since 2010 were among the positives for England in a rain-curtailed final day of the third Test between the two sides that ended in a draw.
Babar Azam scored an unbeaten 63 as the match ambled on to a stalemate towards the end of the day after Anderson achieved his milestone.
The 38-year-old became the first fast bowler and the fourth bowler overall to take 600 wickets in Test cricket after he dismissed Pakistan captain Azhar Ali.
He was, however, stranded on 599 wickets for much of the day.
Azhar, who had scored an unbeaten 141 in Pakistan’s first innings, was surprised by the bounce that Anderson generated as the ball ended up deflecting off the shoulder of his bat to England captain Joe Root at slip.
Root pocketed the ball despite it coming at a good pace at him.
The only other wicket to fall after that went to Root, who managed to get a nick off Asad Shafiq and got him caught at bat pad.
Pakistan were on 187/4 when the players shook hands. Anderson walked off to warm applause from his teammates and the opposition.
The first two sessions of the day were washed out and it looked like Anderson might be denied a chance to reach the landmark.
However, the umpires decided that there was scope to play a few overs towards the end of the day. With the series already won and there being no chance for Pakistan to secure a victory, England clearly were more intent on getting Anderson to his milestone than anything else.
England had won the first Test by three wickets.
Brief scores: England 583/8 decl. (Zak Crawley 267, Jos Buttler 152; Fawad Alam 2-46) drew with Pakistan 273 (Azhar Ali 141*; James Anderson 5-56) & 187/4 f/o (Babar Azam 63*, Abid Ali 42; James Anderson 2-45)
(IANS)
