The 3rd Test was predicted to be another white-wash victory for England, with Pakistan's batting order being nothing short of abysmal. And with the overhead conditions, and a pitch perfect for seam bowling, it seemed that after England won the toss and chose to bat first was quite a strange decision.
Their decision proved to backfire after they lost 7 wickets for only 94 runs, with a mixture of a brilliant bowling display by Pakistan and a shocking display with the bat for the Englishman, with the top scorer being Eoin Morgan with a mere 17 runs. However, there seemed to be a hint of some light at the end of the tunnel, with an impressive 84 by wicket-keeper Matt Prior. His partnership with Stuart Broad got England to 213-8. However, in the end England could only manage a poor 233. The highlight was Pakistan's Wahab Riaz, who claimed a very impressive 5-63.
This put Pakistan in a strong position to attempt to capitalize on England's underestimations of their young, inexperienced side, and they certainly did this, ending their first innings on 308, giving them a lead of 75 runs. This was much better than their recent batting scores against England!! The highest scorer was Azhar Ali, who was only playing his 5th competitive test match for Pakistan, once again showing how young this Pakistan side actually is. Even if he hadn't played many games before, he was making batting look like a stroll in the park with his variety of strokes. Mohammad Yousuf also had a decent innings, grabbing himself a solid 56 from 102 balls.
England's 2nd innings needed to be a much improved one, otherwise they could be staring at defeat in the 3rd test. However, it wouldn't be an easy task, with Pakistan seeking a win to make the score 2-1 and give them a possible chance of drawing the series against the current T20 world champions. It wasn't the start England wanted though, with Andrew Strauss being caught and bowled for just 4. The introduction of James Anderson as night watchmen at number 3 seemed to give England some stability, and they got to a decent 194-4, with Alastair Cook grabbing his 13th Test Match century, eventually being caught by the wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal for 110. Jonathan Trott also contributed to the total with a reasonable 36. One of the worrying aspects for me was how Kevin Pietersen once again had a very average, if not poor, innings. With the Ashes coming up this winter, will the England selectors be prepared to drop him for arguably the most important test series in World Cricket??
Back to the game, and a storm was approaching for England, and it wasn't going to be very nice. After tea on day 3, their collapse was unbearable as an England supporter, seeing Pakistan take 6 wickets for only 26 runs, dreadful. With England on 221-9 at the close of play of Day 3, I cannot see the last 2 holding on for long tomorrow morning. Hopefully, Broad can get a decent half century without taking any risks. With a lead of only 146 runs, we need a resolute batting performance by lunch tomorrow and hopefully Andersen and co. can do us a favour in the bowling department!
I will report back the last events of this thrilling test match when it finishes.
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