England were left to fight hard to save defeat and with it the humiliation of a first-ever series whitewash at the hands of Pakistan in the third and final Test at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium yesterday.
Needing to chase their second-best achieved target in all Tests of 324, England finished the third day at 36-0, with openers Andrew Strauss (19) and Alastair Cook (15) playing out the tricky 20 overs on an eased out pitch.
They still need another 288 runs with all 10 wickets intact in the last two days. England’s most successful chase to win a Test was the 332 they made against Australia in Melbourne in 1929.
Photo: AFP
Azhar Ali hit a career-best 157 and Younis Khan 127 in Pakistan’s second-innings total of 365.
Pakistan could have got Cook’s wicket had Taufiq Umar not dropped an easy catch at third slip off paceman Umar Gul when the England opener had made just 4.
It will need an extraordinary effort from the England batsmen, who lost the first Test in Dubai by 10 wickets and the second by 72 runs in Abu Dhabi after their batting flopped against Pakistan spinners Saeed Ajmal and Abdul Rehman.
Both Pakistan spinners will test the England batting once again after Monty Panesar claimed 5-124 to finally bowl out Pakistan in their second innings on a pitch that saw 16 wickets fall on the first day.
Pakistan were bowled out for 99 in their first innings and they can become the first team to win a Test after being bowled out for fewer than 100 since England, dismissed for 76 in the first innings, beat South Africa by 53 runs in Leeds, England, in 1907.
Pakistan were well placed at 331-4, before losing their last seven wickets for a mere 34 runs following good bowling from England spinners Panesar and Graeme Swann, who finished with 3-101.
Pakistan owed their total to a brilliant career-best knock by Ali and Younis’ brilliance. Together they added 216 for the third wicket in a frustrating stand which almost plunged England into submission.
Ali became the ninth wicket to fall when he gave a bat-pad catch to Cook at short-leg off Swann. He hit 10 boundaries and a six during his long stay at the crease, which was seven minutes short of nine hours.
Resuming at 222-2, Pakistan lost Younis leg before wicket to Stuart Broad.Younis hit 12 boundaries and a six during his 221-ball knock.
Pakistan were 295-3 at lunch, but they lost cluster of wickets to Panesar, who trapped Misbah (31) and Asad Shafiq (5) leg before wicket to check Pakistan’s progress.
Panesar then bowled Adnan Akmal (0) to further make inroads into Pakistan’s batting. From the other end, Swann had Abdul Rehman (1) and Ajmal (1) in successive overs, and then he wrapped up the innings when he claimed Ali and Panesar trapped Umar Gul leg-before (4).
Japan’s Shohei Ohtani is the record-breaking baseball “superhuman” following in the footsteps of the legendary Babe Ruth who has also earned comparisons to US sporting greats Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. Not since Ruth a century ago has there been a baseball player capable of both pitching and hitting at the top level. The 30-year-old’s performances with the Los Angeles Dodgers have consolidated his position as a baseball legend in the making, and a national icon in his native Japan. He continues to find new ways to amaze, this year becoming the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Naomi Osaka is braced for a “battle” after yesterday setting up a clash with Coco Gauff in the round-of-16 of the China Open, while top seed Aryna Sabalenka also marched on. Osaka defeated 60th-ranked American Katie Volynets 6-3, 6-2 and next faces Gauff in a showdown of former US Open champions in Beijing. World No. 2 Sabalenka swatted aside Ashlyn Krueger 6-2, 6-2 for her 14th consecutive victory and plays another American in 24th-ranked Madison Keys. Looking ahead to the Gauff meeting, four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka said: “She’s very athletic, obviously.” “For me, my strongest traits are being aggressive and also my serve,
Francesco Bagnaia yesterday profited from a mistake by rookie Pedro Acosta to win the Japan MotoGP sprint and close the gap on overall championship leader, Jorge Martin. Spaniard Acosta crashed with four laps to go while leading the field at Motegi, allowing defending world champion Bagnaia to take first ahead of Enea Bastianini and Marc Marquez. Spain’s Martin finished fourth and saw his overall lead over Italian Bagnaia in the championship standings cut to 15 points. “I am very happy because with these conditions, it’s not very easy to win and gain points,” Bagnaia said after a sprint race that took place under