 | CONNELL GRANGE SUPPLY WHERE THE CUSTOMER IS STILL THE COMPANY |
|
Printable Page
08/28 13:41 CDT England in control at Lord's and stretches lead to 261 after
skittling Pakistan for 110
England in control at Lord's and stretches lead to 261 after skittling Pakistan
for 110
By FOSTER NIUMATA
Associated Press
LONDON (AP) --- England was bossing Pakistan by an imposing 261 runs after two
days of the Lord's test on Friday.
The host side was 81-3 in its second innings when bad light stopped play and in
total command after routing a depleted Pakistan for 110 in the afternoon.
Pakistan medium-pacers Khurram Shahzad and Mohammad Ali did well to prise out
Ben Duckett, Jordan Cox and Joe Root in the last session but they were bowling
in damage limitation mode.
Their batters' failure conceded an intimidating 180-run lead to England on the
first innings. Pakistan hasn't totaled 180 in the series yet and was without
opening batter Imam-ul-Haq, who suffered a left calf strain while fielding
early Thursday and won't reappear.
England won the first test in Leeds by an innings last week and may yet repeat
the three-day feat and clinch the three-match series.
England's four seamers feasted on a Pakistan batting order that wasn't
compensated by the return of captain Babar Azam.
Ollie Robinson took 4-11 from 13 overs, including six maidens. Jofra Archer had
3-26 from 11.2 and the fastest new-ball spell of his career, Josh Tongue
claimed two wickets and Gus Atkinson was luckless.
Pakistan was blown away in 37.2 overs, and the bowlers were back in harness
just over four hours after finishing England's first innings at 290 at noon.
The only resistance when Pakistan batted came from novice opener Azan Awais.
Embarrassingly out to the first ball of the series in Leeds, Awais dug in for
35 overs at Lord's. He debuted in May with a century in Bangladesh and was four
runs shy of his third half-century. Awais faced 102 balls to score 46.
His innings was remarkable considering the next best runs in Pakistan's
scoreboard was 20 extras.
Awais was dropped on 8 off Atkinson and overturned being given out on 43. He
was caught on the boundary after top-edging a pull at Robinson.
Robinson was heading toward a third player-of-the-match performance in three
tests.
He came to the fore after lunch, pinning Saud Shakeel and Mohammed Rizwan to
expose the tail. Robinson added Shahzad and Awais but couldn't grab another
Lord's five-for.
Archer averaged 90.7 mph (146 kph) before lunch, topping at 95 mph (153 kph)
but could nick off only Shan Masood, who moved up to open as Imam's
replacement. Archer took out two tailenders at the end.
Tongue bagged Pakistan's most in-form batter, Abdullah Shafique, right on
lunch. Shafique tried driving Tongue on 5 and was caught behind after England
reviewed.
Tongue also got Babar straight after lunch. Coming back from a finger injury
that made him miss the first test, Babar hit a couple of boundaries through the
covers then edged Tongue to third slip on 8.
___
See AP's full cricket coverage here
