PAK 146/3, lead by 74 | Live Cricket Score Pakistan vs England 2015, 3rd Test at Sharjah, Day 3: Shoaib Malik announces retirement

Greetings! Welcome to CricketCountry's live coverage of Day Three of the third and final Test between Pakistan and England at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium in Sharjah on Tuesday. This is Amit Banerjee, and I shall be presenting to you the live updates from the day. England are in firm control of the proceedings after reaching a score of 222 for the loss of four wickets at the end of the second day's play, with James Taylor and Jonny Bairstow batting on scores of 74 (141 balls) and 37 (94 balls) respectively. They now trail Pakistan's modest first innings total of 234 by a mere 12 runs, with a plenty of wickets in hand at the moment. LIVE CRICKET SCORECARD: Pakistan vs England 2015, 3rd Test in Sharjah Shoaib Malik has announced his retirement from Test cricket. He was dismissed for a golden duck by James Anderson earlier in the day. He reportedly said he needed more time to spend with family and has hence called quits from the longest format. His teammate Mohammad Hafeez speaking in another segment of the post match presentation was unaware of the call. Could it have been a spontaneous call by Malik? READ: Shoaib Malik announces retirement from Tests Read report of Day's play here LIVE CRICKET SCORE Pakistan 146/3 in 53 overs; BATTING: Mohammad Hafeez 97(155), Rahat Ali 0(8): Mohammad Hafeez batted beautifully and Pakistan are in this game while he stays at the crease. But the dismissal of Younis Khan to Stuart Broad late in the day will hurt the Pakistanis. Night-watchman Rahat Ali survived a nervous final over in the day to take Pakistan to a respectable total at stumps. OUT! Younis Khan 14 (39) lbw Stuart Broad LIVE CRICKET SCORE Pakistan 121/2 in 45 overs; BATTING: Mohammad Hafeez 80(137), Younis Khan 6(17): Hafeez continues to dominate the English bowlers, including Anderson, after Pakistan are dealt with a couple of dismissals! Hafeez is now approaching is ninth Test hundred, while Younis Khan is taking his time in settling at the crease. A few more overs left in the day's play, and the hosts will hope not to lose any further wickets. LIVE CRICKET SCORE Pakistan 106/2 in 40 overs; BATTING: Mohammad Hafeez 70(122), Younis Khan 1(2): Hafeez and Azhar are looking almost unbeatable, and are favourites to end the day without letting their partnership come to an end. That is until some horrible running between the wickets sees Azhar stranded at the striker's end, which gives Adil Rashid all the time in the world to disturb the stumps. Shoaib Malik arrives at the crease, with Hafeez hitting a boundary in the meantime. The No. 3 batsman does not stick to the crease for long, getting trapped plumb off a reverse-swinging delivery by Anderson for England to make their comeback into the game. OUT! Azhar Ali run out 34(115), Shoaib Malik lbw James Anderson 0(1) LIVE CRICKET SCORE Pakistan 86/0 in 35 overs; BATTING: Mohammad Hafeez 54(106), Azhar Ali 31(104): Mohammad Hafeez completes his half-century with a boundary the slices through point off the bowling of Samit Patel! 13th Test fifty, and the third in this series, for the Pakistani opener to extend his good run of form. Azhar meanwhile, has moved to the 30s so far, as the duo will look to bat till the end of the day now. LIVE CRICKET SCORE Pakistan 75/0 in 30 overs; BATTING: Mohammad Hafeez 46(96), Azhar Ali 28(84): The opening pair continue their good work, helping their side take a lead without losing a wicket in their second innings so far. Mohammad Hafeez meanwhile, is approaching his 13th Test fifty, which would be his third of the current series. Azhar Ali, meanwhile, is playing a steady innings at the other end and will hope to make up for his first innings blip with a good knock in the second attempt. Read the tea report of Day Three here. LIVE CRICKET SCORE Pakistan 58/0 in 22 overs; BATTING: Mohammad Hafeez 33(72), Azhar Ali 24(60): Hafeez and Azhar have guided Pakistan to a good start so far, with Hafeez completing the 50-run stand with a massive six off the bowling of Moeen Ali, coming down the track and launching the slightly fullish delivery pitched along the off-stump. LIVE CRICKET SCORE Pakistan 38/0 in 15 overs; BATTING: Mohammad Hafeez 21(50), Azhar Ali 17(40): Hafeez and Ali consolidate after a few early dismissal scares. The two have managed to see off both Anderson and Broad, who have been replaced with the spin duo of Moeen Ali and Samit Patel, with Adil Rashid likely to be introduced soon after. Meanwhile, Hafeez has moved to the 20s, although he will aim not to perish off a a rash shot like he did in the first innings. LIVE CRICKET SCORE Pakistan 17/0 in 10 overs; BATTING: Mohammad Hafeez 11(33), Azhar Ali 6(27): Pakistan has increased their run-scoring pace so far in the innings, with Mohammad Hafeez coming down the track off the last ball of the 10th over and times the god-length delivery pitched slightly outside off to perfection to smash the ball over long-off! LIVE CRICKET SCORE Pakistan 4/0 in 5 overs; BATTING: Mohammad Hafeez 2(19), Azhar Ali 2(11): Pakistan are off to a slow start, with Azhar Ali having collected his first runs of the ongoing series by moving to 2 off 11 balls. Pakistan are currently scoring at a rate of less than one per over, with Anderson and Broad bowling tight, attacking lines so far in the innings. Hafeez survives a dismissal scare — is adjudged caught behind off Anderson by the umpire, but the decision is overturned after the batsman goes for the review. LIVE CRICKET SCORE England 306 in 126.5 overs; BATTING: Stuart Broad 12(16): Pakistan have responded brilliantly with the ball in the last few overs, with the spinners getting rid of threats in the form of Samit Patel and James Anderson, with England just one dismissal away from getting bowled out! Patel is denied a maiden Test fifty with a brilliant delivery from Yasir, who takes his third wicket as a result. The ball is pitched on the middle, and spins away from the batsman, who was expecting the ball to come to the bat, to clip his off-stump! Malik gets rid of Anderson in a similar manner, with the ball straightening after pitching along the off-stump to rattle the batsman's timber. Malik finishes with career-best figures of 4/33 after getting rid of Stokes — once again in a similar manner — with England finishing with a lead of 72. OUT! Samit Patel b Yasir Shah 42(80), James Anderson b Shoaib Malik 7(7) LIVE CRICKET SCORE England 285/7 in 120.4 overs; BATTING: Samit Patel 41(78): Lunch taken at Sharjah. Pakistan looked stable with Malik dismissing Adil Rashid on the last ball of the session. From here, England lead by 51 runs with three wickets to spare. The hosts will aim to bundle out the English side before the end of the next session. LIVE CRICKET SCORE England 276/6 in 114 overs; BATTING: Samit Patel 34(57), Adil Rashid 6(33): Patel is striking the ball like a top-order batsman at the moment! Has played quite well in his 57-ball innings so far. With able support from Rashid, who scored a brave half-century in vain in the final innings of the previous Test, the two should instill enough hope in the rest of their team of crossing the 300-run mark. Wahab Riaz and Zulfiqar Babar are giving their best at the moment, but somehow seem to be thwarted by the duo of Patel's strokes on an occasional basis. LIVE CRICKET SCORE England 252/6 in 107 overs; BATTING: Samit Patel 16(36), Adil Rashid 1(11): Pakistan are off to a good start on Day Three, having got rid of Taylor, followed by Babar getting rid of Bairstow with a peach of a delivery. Pitched on the middle-stump on a good length, Bairstow misses the line of the delivery, which straightens immediately, while attempting to execute a cut, getting his stumps rattled in the process. Meanwhile Samit Patel and Adil Rashid are both known to be handy with the bat down the order, so the Pakistanis cannot afford to rest as yet. OUT! Jonny Bairstow b Zulfiqar Babar 43(118) LIVE CRICKET SCORE England 229/5 in 99 overs; BATTING: Jonny Bairstow 40(108), Samit Patel 0(7): Big wicket for Pakistan! Rahat Ali strikes  in the early hours of Day 3. Sarfraz dives and claimed an excellent low catch. It's always difficult to carry the same momentum from the previous day and Taylor also traps to the tricky task. The visitors trail by five runs with five wickets to spare. OUT! James Taylor c Sarfraz Ahmed b Rahat Ali 76 (161) The second day saw a keen battle between bat and ball for the most part, until Taylor and Bairstow's defiant knocks helped the tourists wrest the momentum towards the latter stages of play. Moeen Ali was the first to fall among the English ranks, getting caught by Younis Khan off the bowling of part-time off-spinner Shoaib Malik off a top-edge. Alastair Cook, whose highlight in the series so far has been his majestic 263 in the Abu Dhabi Test, fell just one run short of a 46th Test fifty to become Yasir Shah's first victim of the day. Joe Root, who had scored two useful half-centuries in the previous Test, was dismissed for a mere score of four runs after Sarfraz Ahmed held on to a brilliant low catch after an edge by the batsman off the bowling of Rahat Ali. Ian Bell and Taylor had initiated the recover process for some time, before the former fell for 40 shortly after tea, getting stumped after missing the line of a Yasir delivery that spun away from the batsman completely. 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 222 for 4 (Alastair Cook 49, Ian Bell 40, James Taylor 74*, Jonny Bairstow 37; Rahat Ali 1 for 13, Shoaib Malik 1 for 16, Yasir Shah 2 for 79) by 12 runs. Live cricket scorecard and ball-by-ball updates: Pakistan vs England 2015, 3rd Test at Sharjah