Joe Root inspires England on day two

Barnaby Read 16:57 23/10/2015
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  • Root (l) was in fine form for England.

    A total of ten overs went unbowled on day two of the second Test between Pakistan and England on a day where the visitors firmly imposed themselves on the match.

    Joe Root’s unbeaten 76 saw England to 192-3 at the close, when bad light brought a premature end to proceedings.

    It leaves England still 186 adrift of Pakistan, but with seven first innings wickets in hand, the game is perfectly poised with three days left in the Test.

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    Earlier in proceedings, England were excellent in the opening exchanges as they rattled through the Pakistan tail.

    Things got off to a perfect start for Alastair Cook’s men as overnight centurion Misbah-ul-Haq fell lbw to Stuart Broad without adding to his score with the fifth ball of the day.

    Asad Shafiq played brilliantly to make 83 as he offered resistance in the form of counter-attack but it was England’s morning.

    By removing the final Pakistan wicket of Shafiq, Mark Wood took England to lunch having taken six wickets for just 96 runs in an excellent first session for the tourists.

    Wood, who bowled with superb pace and discipline on day one, ended up with figures of 3-39 and was England’s standout performer with the ball.

    The off-spin of Moeen Ali (3-108) was England’s next best bowler, James Anderson, Broad, Rashid and Stokes picking up a wicket each to ensure every bowler had some reward.

    England would have been pleased to have bowled out Pakistan for under 400, while the home side were grateful for Shafiq’s innings that ensured a more than handy first innings total.

    Misbah’s bowlers then gave Pakistan the perfect start, Wahab Riaz and Imran Khan picking up a wicket apiece inside the first five overs of England’s reply after lunch to leave them 14-2.

    Newly appointed opener Ali was first to depart for 1 in the second over thanks to Shan Masood’s superb catch at short-leg off Riaz.

    Turning the ball off his legs, Ali was expecting to turn and see the ball racing to the boundary, only to find the middle of Masood’s palms.

    Ian Bell’s patchy form continued, an awkward 10-ball 4 ended when he edged Khan to wicket-keeper Sarfraz Ahmed.

    Bell now has only four fifties in the 20 innings since his last Test hundred against the West Indies in April this year.

    In stark contrast, Cook and Root have been in sublime touch and the pair carried on their respective free-scoring runs of form by seeing England to tea without further loss.

    During that period they also safely negotiated the series’ first sight of Yasir Shah, whose six over spell in the afternoon went without a wicket at over four runs an over.

    Shah was widely expected to have a significant impact on this Test having missed the first with a side injury, even as early as day two.

    In Cook and root, however, the Pakistan leg-spinner found two batsmen on top of their game, equally comfortable against his spin as the pace of Riaz.

    The pair carried on where they left off after tea, Cook bringing up his 45th Test fifty from 98 balls, the partnership worth 100 just seven balls later.

    Cook would fall thirteen runs later as Shah entered the game with a huge scalp for his side, the England captain turning the ball round the corner to substitute Ahmed Shahzad at leg-slip for 65.

    The dismissal did not deter Root who brought up his 15th half century as a Test batsman from 85 balls in the type of fluidity and unconcern that the 24-year-old has come to embody.

    Bairstow briefly struggled against Shah but found relief at the other end as Zulfiqar Babar’s slow left-armers failed to exert the control necessary to maintain pressure on the England batsman.

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