Azhar, Shafiq, Azam power Pakistan into lead

By Agencies

May 26, 2018

LONDON: If Azhar Ali’s half-century set the tone for Pakistan’s solid reply during the first session, it was all about capitalisation in the post-lunch period with Asad Shafiq and Babar Azam’s fifties powering the visitors into the lead.

With England’s bowlers hard-pressed for solutions, Pakistan’s fourth-wicket pair made the most of it until Ben Stokes provided a couple of strikes towards the end of the session. Pakistan were 227 for 5, leading by 43 at Tea on Day 2 of the first Test at Lord’son Friday.

Having bagged the wicket of Azhar towards the end of the morning session, a rejuvenated England would have hoped to make more inroads into Pakistan’s batting order and put them under pressure. However, Shafiq had effective counters to their strategies, which was all about staying put and cashing in on opportunities whenever they arose. His no-frills approach - plenty of leaves, solid defence and strike rotation, fitted in with boundaries from time to time - served as a good example to Babar Azam, who was only too happy to follow his partner.

Things weren’t easy for Shafiq and Azam at the start of the second session, as they were troubled by Anderson and Broad during their nine-over spell in tandem. Anderson found the outside edge of Azam’s bat, only for Alastair Cook to put down a tough chance. Edges off Shafiq’s bat either dropped down or travelled over the slip cordon, much to the frustration of Anderson. Broad’s attempts to have the batsmen flirt with the outside-off lines were mostly reciprocated with shouldered arms. As England’s desperation grew, they sought a DRS intervention when there was some sound, only to be made aware through replays that Wood’s delivery has brushed Shafiq’s elbow, costing them a review.

In the hour that followed, Pakistan’s control grew stronger and a clueless England had to endure several milestones. It started with Shafiq’s fifty before Pakistan took the lead and crossed the 200-run mark. A century stand was there for the taking too, but it didn’t quite materialise as Shafiq, after being put down by Jos Buttler off Ben Stokes, edged the same bowler to Dawid Malan to depart for 59. Azam and Sarfraz Ahmed’s association promised further toil for England, but Stokes managed to tempt the Pakistan skipper into a pull and induced a top edge to bag a wicket off the final ball before Tea and provide the hosts some hope of limiting the damage.

Earlier, England’s bowlers weren’t able to make an impact on an overcast morning as Azhar and Haris Sohail minimised the wicket-taking opportunities by showing plenty of application. It took an hour and a 75-run partnership before Wood picked up the first wicket of the day by squaring up Sohail. But the hard work for England continued into the second half of the session as Azhar and Asad Shafiq were busy trying to build a partnership and capitalised on anything that was loose on either side of the wicket.

England 1st Innings: 184

Pakistan 1st Innings (overnight: 50-1):

Azhar Ali lbw b Anderson 50

Imam-ul-Haq lbw b Broad 4

Haris Sohail c Bairstow b Wood 39

Asad Shafiq c Malan b Stokes 59

Babar Azam not out 59

Sarfraz Ahmed c Wood b Stokes 9

Extras: (lb7) 7

Total: (5 wkts, 79 overs, 348 mins) 227

To bat: Faheem Ashraf, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Abbas

Fall: 1-12 (Imam), 2-87 (Haris), 3-119 (Azhar), 4-203 (Shafiq), 5-227 (Sarfraz)