Eng in Pak, Oct 7-28

[andy]

Horrific shot awful slog pope up and running with a boundary

[sussexpob]

Guess england are beyond rewiring at this stage, but Duckett got a scorcher of a first ball that turned and beat him, then takes on next ball against the angle of the turn.

God I wish at stages they'd watch a few balls and be willing to compromise. Can really only lose the game tonight, not win it.

[sussexpob]

That there is an absolute beauty. Does him in the flight, Crawley comes down to it as he should, but the flight beats him, the spin beats him, and Rizwan does the rest.... dont get better spin bowling than that.

[andy]

Gonna have to be the Joe root show, everyone else will collapse in a heap!

[sussexpob]

Ouf... another ripper from Noman, when he takes the pace off the ball he is getting it to dive in and turn big.... Root's soft hands saves him as the edge doesnt make it.

[sussexpob]

At the moment I don't really get Pope's approach to the off spinner. Seems to be making no effort to keep the ball down, just playing with the turn into the leg side and hoping he hits it hard enough to beat the fielder... already had one land short, got wicket all over it.

[sussexpob]

On pitches that are roads, go ahead and play against the turn, but on a pitch like this where Noman has had 3-4 balls turn big, what the hell is Joe Root doing trying to play a slog sweep to a ball turning big miles outside off. Lucky he gets away with it...

[Arthur Crabtree]

Two down, so not that much damage done. Though an hour of Crawley and Duckett would have cut that total down a lot.

[mikesiva]

Pakistan 221 all out

Agha 63

Bashir 4-67
Leach 3-66

Target 297

[Durhamfootman]

Work to do tomorrow for England

They might chase it down comfortably, collapse in a heap nowhere near, or something in between. Your guess is as good as mine

[alfie]

Guess england are beyond rewiring at this stage, but Duckett got a scorcher of a first ball that turned and beat him, then takes on next ball against the angle of the turn.

God I wish at stages they'd watch a few balls and be willing to compromise. Can really only lose the game tonight, not win it.

Yeah...Duckett is a bit of an enigma to me . He averages 41 , with his consistently very aggressive approach - he hardly ever leaves a ball and doesn't even block too many : at times I think he is riding his luck a bit and will come a cropper soon but the figures remain strong , with some big scores against all types of bowling - and the first innings here was a terrific knock , on a pitch which seemed to magically change from bland to spitting cobra as soon as he got out So I suppose he might say he was only doing what he always does and it just went wrong this time

But I do wish he had restrained himself for a brief look on this occasion , as an hour of his stuff here might have changed this chase from what looks almost impossible into something just about 50/50. Now there is a mountainous task facing ... mainly Joe Root .

You never say "never" with this England outfit. But I reckon bringing off this chase , on this 9th day pitch , would rank ahead of even their most astonishing wins to date...

[Arthur Crabtree]

Hero time for Gentle Ben.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Not this time. Not a happy return for the skipper.

Eight for Noman, the bowler with a name that might be from postwar theatre of the absurd.

England's seemingly clear supremacy has folded in just a few hours.

[mikesiva]

England 144 all out

Stokes 37

Noman 8-46

[Durhamfootman]

I read that Pakistan had packed a load of spinners in their side, but in the end they only needed 2

all to play for in the final test