Butterfinger England let Pakistan off the hook

Had England clung on to their chances,Pakistan might have well been bowled out before stumps. Pakistan were struggling at 103 for 4 just after lunch,but Misbah and Shafiq resisted for more than two hours to regain momentum.

The six sense

Misbah lofted Panesar for two successive sixes over the long on boundary early in his knock,but waited patiently thereafter to hit his first boundary after tea as the wicket eased out for batting. He took 142 balls to raise his half century but finished the day with a flourish by hitting Panesar,again,for successive sixes in the last over.

Shafiq struggled for nearly half an hour but gained confidence with some crisp boundaries on both sides of the wicket. He brought up his half century with a sharp single off Panesar before he was caught on the back leg by Graeme Swann while attempting a sweep shot.

Earlier,Mohammad Hafeez (31) and Umar (16) provided a steady start of 51 runs. Settling down a little after the first hour,Swann uprooted Umar’s off stump when the left-hander offered no shot to a straight delivery and Panesar bowled Hafeez off a beautifully bowled arm ball,only a delivery after dropping the batsman off his own bowling.

Stuart Broad provided England a sniff of running through the opposition when he sent Younis Khan’s (24) and Azhar Ali’s (24) off stumps cartwheeling in the second session in space of five runs. Broad,who took 3/47,trapped Akmal for 9,then Swann,who ended with 3/52,brushed the off stump of Abdur Rehman for a duck late in the day.

Brief scores: Pakistan 256 for seven in 94 overs (Misbah-Ul-Haq 83 batting,Asad Shafiq 58,Mohammad Hafeez 31,Stuart Broad three for 47,Graeme Swann three for 52) vs England.