ENG 222/4 │Live Cricket Score Pakistan vs England 2015, 3rd Test at Sharjah, Day 2: Visitors consolidate after James Taylor's fifty

Hello! Assalaam Aleikum! Welcome to CricketCountry's live blog of the second day of the third and final Test between Pakistan and England at Sharjah on Monday. This is Amit Banerjee, and I shall be presenting to you the live updates from the day's play. England finished on top at the end of the opening day's play after bowling Pakistan out for an average total of 234, with James Anderson being the most successful pick among the bowlers with superb figures of 4 for 17, while he was well-supported by Stuart Broad, who took two wickets for 13 runs. Thus, it was mainly the England pacers dominating the Pakistani batsmen, with six wickets for 30 runs between them. Only Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul-Haq gave serious competition to the Englishmen with a gritty knock of 71 off 160 balls, which included seven boundaries and two sixes. LIVE CRICKET SCORECARD: Pakistan vs England 2015, 3rd Test in Sharjah Read the Day Three report here. LIVE CRICKET SCORE England 222/4 in 92 overs; BATTING: James Taylor 74(141), Jonny Bairstow 37(94): And its stumps on Day Two, with England clearly on top at stumps! So far so good for the visitors, who have successfully kept their hopes of drawing the series with a win in this game alive. James Taylor is batting on 74, and looks good to bring up his maiden Test hundred on the third day. Taylor is getting valuable support from Bairstow at the other end, who is 13 runs away from his sixth Test fifty. The duo have added 83 runs in an unbroken stand for the sixth wicket so far, with the hosts just 12 runs behind Pakistan's first innings total of 234 with a plenty of wickets in hand! LIVE CRICKET SCORE England 177/4 in 80 overs; BATTING: James Taylor 50(100), Jonny Bairstow 17(63): And James Taylor gets to his maiden Test fifty! It takes the middle-order batsman four innings to get to the mark, although there was a three-year gap between the third and the fourth innings. Taylor has pretty much justified his selection into the Test squad as a surprise package. Taylor has now carried his brilliant run of form from the limited-overs fixtures to the longest format. Meanwhile the partnership has now blossomed to 38. LIVE CRICKET SCORE England 165/4 in 75 overs; BATTING: James Taylor 42(91), Jonny Bairstow 14(42): England have made decent progress despite the fall of Ian Bell's wicket. Bairstow has managed to increase his scoring rate by hitting a couple of boundaries off Yasir Shah and Wahab Riaz. Meanwhile Taylor is ambling towards his maiden Test fifty, which will only add further credit his incredible form this year so far. Taylor had a superb run in the One-Day International (ODI) series against Australia, and could seal his spot in the Test side with this knock, if he can solidify his innings further. Meanwhile, England are still favourites to gain a first innings lead, though the prospect of achieving before the end of the day's play doesn't look likely. LIVE CRICKET SCORE England 144/4 in 65 overs; BATTING: James Taylor 26(56), Jonny Bairstow 0(4): Once again, England lose a wicket following a break, as Ian Bell is dismissed for a score of 40 after facing 158 deliveries, that included two fours and a six. Bell comes down the track to defend a good-length delivery, and missing the delivery completely as the ball turns away from him, resulting in wicketkeeper Sarfraz promptly whipping the bails off to stump the batsman. OUT! Ian Bell st Sarfraz Ahmed b Yasir Shah 40(158) LIVE CRICKET SCORE England 135/3 in 61 overs; BATTING: Ian Bell 40(151), James Taylor 26(56): Ian bell just survived a close call an over before tea. Bell now is just 10 runs away from a half century. James Taylor has scored most of the runs in the post-lunch session. Yasir Shah is looking the most dangerous of bowler for Pakistan. England head to the tea session with the hope that the Bell-Taylor partnership prospers, atleast till they have crossed the Pakistani total. The Pakistani spinners, on the other hand, will be smacking their lips at the prospect of a track that is beginning to offer massive turn with the wear and tear. LIVE CRICKET SCORE England 118/3 in 55 overs; BATTING: Ian Bell 38(134), James Taylor 11(37): Just eight runs have been scored in the last five overs, as the England run-rate in the second session is a little over 1 at the moment! LIVE CRICKET SCORE England 110/3 in 50 overs; BATTING: Ian Bell 32(121), James Taylor 9(20): Bell and Taylor are looking to see off the Pakistani attack until tea, with the pressure of preserving their wickets still on their heads at the moment. Meanwhile, Rahat Ali has been replaced by Wahab Riaz, who is not offering the English batsmen any room for scoring as is Yasir Shah. LIVE CRICKET SCORE England 98/3 in 45 overs; BATTING: Ian Bell 30(104), James Taylor 0(6): No sooner have England recovered from the blow of Cook's departure for 49 when they are dealt with another such situation — this time it is in-form batsman Joe Root who has to join his skipper in the pavilion as England lose their third wicket now. Rahat pitches the full-length delivery outside off, which Root looks to prod towards the covers, and gets an edge instead. Brilliant work by wicketkeeper Sarfraz, who takes a low, one-handed catch after diving to his right to complete the dismissal. Pakistan are back in the game now, with James Taylor arriving at the crease now. OUT! Joe Root c Sarfraz Ahmed b Rahat Ali 4(14) LIVE CRICKET SCORE England 91/2 in 40 overs; BATTING: Ian Bell 26(84), Joe Root 1(10) : Cook and Bell are barely able to score any runs off Rahat and Yasir, who open the bowling following the resumption of play after lunch. OUT! And it is Yasir who finally gets rid of the in-form Cook, who attempts to glance a tossed up delivery along the middle-stump, getting an inside edge to his pad that eventually travels to the hands of Azhar Ali at short-leg. Cook is unfortunate enough to be dismissed just one run short of a well-deserved 46th Test fifty! OUT! Alastair Cook c Azhar Ali b Yasir Shah 49(119) LIVE CRICKET SCORE England 87/1 in 34 overs; BATTING: Alastair Cook 18(110), Ian Bell 24(67): Alastair Cook is just two runs away from his 46th half century in Tests. Cook is well-supported by Ian Bell at the other end, who is playing on 24. Pakistan will want to strike early post-lunch session with Yasir Shah coming close a few times in the morning session. Read the lunch report of Day 2 here. LIVE CRICKET SCORE England 80/1 in 30 overs; BATTING: Alastair Cook 45(97), Ian Bell 20(56): Yasir Shah and Wahab Riaz are cornering England. Alastair Cook had a couple of close calls with Shah. Cook and Bell will look to take the team into lunch at one wicket. Players are going on and off the field to stay hydrated. LIVE CRICKET SCORE England 64/1 in 25 overs; BATTING: Alastair Cook 31(76), Ian Bell 19(46): Wahab Riaz has been introduced into the attack now, as Misbah looks to maintain the spin and pacer combination in order to disallow Cook and Bell from settling at the crease after getting a couple of boundaries. Yasir is able to get the ball even at this stage of the day, which the pair will be cautious of. LIVE CRICKET SCORE England 46/1 in 20 overs; BATTING: Alastair Cook 14(42), Ian Bell 9(19): Yasir Shah has finally been introduced in the 19th over, and concedes just one run off it. Meanwhile, both Cook and Bell are going at a steady pace at the moment following a couple of dismissal scares. Cook attempts a sweep every now and then, though boundaries are hard to get by due to the nature of the outfield. LIVE CRICKET SCORE England 37/1 in 15 overs; BATTING: Alastair Cook 14(42), Ian Bell 9(19): Alastair Cook and Ian Bell finally get their first boundaries of the day. While Cook plays Malik towards midwicket, with the ball achieving the rare feat of beating the fielders towards the boundary ropes, Bell comes down the track in the next over to smash Zulfiqar Babar over long-off for a six! A couple of overs later, Bell survives a dismissal chance off Babar's bowling. Attempts to sweep the left-arm spinner towards square-leg, but the ball goes on to hit the right side of his body above the waist. The Pakistanis do not review after their review is turned down by the umpire, with the hawkeye later showing that the ball would've hit the off-stump. LIVE CRICKET SCORE England 20/1 in 10 overs; BATTING: Alastair Cook 6(27), Ian Bell 0(5): The opening pair of Cook and Moeen look shaky at the start of the day's play, though Cook goes for an occasional drive or two to break the tension. OUT! Moeen departs after a poor choice of shot selection, attempting to sweep a delivery that was pitched between middle and off and was turning away from the batsman, with Moeen getting a top-edge off it. Shoaib Malik is the man to draw first blood for the hosts on the second day! The pressure is on for the visitors now! OUT! Moeen Ali c Younis Khan b Shoaib Malik 14(28) LIVE CRICKET SCORE England 15/0 in 6 overs; BATTING: Alastair Cook 4(19), Moeen Ali 11(17): After giving Yasir Shah the last over of the opening day, Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul-Haq has deployed the services of Wahab Riaz and Rahat Ali, with the Englishmen currently taking their time in collecting the runs. The only time the Pakistanis looked in control of the game was during the solid sixth-wicket partnership between Misbah and wicketkeeper batsman Sarfraz Ahmed, who scored a useful 76-ball 39. The duo put stitched an 80-run stand, and boosted Pakistan's hopes of crossing the 300-run mark, which they could have achieved had they preserved their wicket. Sarfraz ultimately got ambitious, and perished with a little over 10 overs left for the day's play to come to an end. His dismissal sparked a collapse, one from which Pakistan couldn't recover as they ultimately folded up for 234, with their last four wickets falling for 38 runs. Teams: Pakistan: Mohammad Hafeez, Azhar Ali, Shoaib Malik, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq (c), Asad Shafiq, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Wahab Riaz, Yasir Shah, Zulfiqar Babar, Rahat Ali. England: Alastair Cook (c), Moeen Ali, Ian Bell, Joe Root, James Taylor, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Ben Stokes, Samit Patel, Adil Rashid, Stuart Broad, James Anderson. Brief scores: Pakistan 234 (Shoaib Malik 38, Younis Khan 31, Misbah-ul-Haq 71, Sarfraz Ahmed 39; James Anderson 4 for 17, Stuart Broad 2 for 13) lead England 4 for 0 by 230 runs. Live cricket scorecard and ball-by-ball updates: Pakistan vs England 2015, 3rd Test at Sharjah