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August 22, 2010

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Pakistan survives late scare


PAKISTAN beat England by four wickets in the third test at The Oval in London yesterday but not before some nervous moments as it lost three quick wickets in its pursuit of a modest winning target of 148.

The Pakistanis were earlier cruising at 124 for three after ending England's second innings for 222 in the first over of the day.

But in a spell that revived English hopes, Azhar Ali ran himself out for five, Mohammad Yousuf was yorked by James Anderson for 33 and Kamran Akmal was dismissed leg before wicket for a duck without playing a shot.

With rain in the air and the crowd cheering England on, Pakistan eventually survived the assault to win with more than a day to spare.

After appearing down and out following heavy losses in the first two tests, Pakistan now has a chance to square the four-match series at Lord's next week after drawing 1-1 with Australia earlier in the season.

Graeme Swann, who took four wickets in Pakistan's first innings, was again the mainstay of the attack when he was asked to bowl from the Vauxhall end after five overs of the new ball. He bowled unchanged to take three for 50 from 18.4 overs

Sensibly in view of an adverse weather forecast, Pakistan decided to attack from the start after Stuart Broad was dismissed for six in the opening over of the day.

Imran Farhat set the tone by slashing Anderson's second ball over the slips for four on his way to his highest score of the series.

He struck six boundaries before he was leg before to Swann for 33.

Captain Salman Butt, also short of runs this series, took over from Farhat with 48 in 64 balls, before he became Swann's second victim, 12 minutes before lunch.

Butt took three fours from a Broad over and two from Steven Finn, forcing Andrew Strauss to rotate his fast men from the Pavilion end.

Yousuf, playing his first test since he was banned indefinitely after leading Pakistan on a spectacularly unsuccessful tour of Australia this year, was again an assured and elegant presence, having stroked scored 56 in the first innings.

Mohammad Amir, with career-best figures of 5-52, became the youngest player at 18 years, 129 days to take five wickets in a test innings in England. His previous best test figures were 5-79 against Australia at Melbourne in December 2009.

 

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