- Pakistan lead England by 12 after centuries from Asad Shafiq and Younus Khan
- Live over-by-over updates from the second day of the final Test
- Hanif Mohammad, the original ‘Little Master’, dies aged 81
91st over: Pakistan 340-6 (Younus 101, Sarfraz 17) Another short, wide delivery from Anderson is threaded through cover point for four. The follow-up is much better and more of what we expect from Jimmy: tempting, leaving. The crowd give the final ball of the day the big build-up... and it’s defended back to the bowler by Sarfraz. Good day for Pakistan: five wickets lost by 337 score. They lead England by 12.
NO ONE IS SAFE
Hundreds against all opposition for Younis Khan:
3 vs Aus
3 vs B'desh
4 vs Eng
5 vs Ind
2 vs NZ
4 vs SA
8 vs SL
2 vs WI
1 vs Zim#Cricket
90th over: Pakistan 335-6 (Younus 101, Sarfraz 12) Change at both ends as Steven Finn comes thundering in from the Pavilion End. Some short stuff to see the day out? The first ball climbs on Younus, who jumps high enough to keep it down into the leg side for a single. There a needless review for a run out as Sarfraz skips out of his crease and is told off by Younus from the sanctity of the nonstriker’s end. That’s enough time wasted to ensure there is just one more over left.
89th over: Pakistan 333-6 (Younus 100, Sarfraz 11) James Anderson replaces Chris Woakes to take us to close. A wide loosener is hammered through the covers for four by Sarfraz. Couple of dabs hint at singles but Younus looks like he wants the close and a good lie down. He deserves no less.
88th over: Pakistan 329-6 (Younus 100, Sarfraz 7) Yes to everything just then: Sarfraz walks across to the Archbishop Tenison School, located 100 yards outside off stump, and flicks Broad through midwicket, towards the Shard.
YOUNIS CAN. #EngvPak
87th over: Pakistan 323-6 (Younus 100, Sarfraz): After 205 minutes, it all came down to a nudge into the leg side, off an inside edge, to take Younus Khan to his century. Until today, he didn’t have a score above 40 to his name in the series. Pakistan need one of his classics to level the series. It’s that simple.
Good hands and feet from Moeen...
WATCH: Fine judgement on the run from @moeenali and Iftikhar is out for 4 to @chriswoakes. PAK 320-6 #InvestecTesthttps://t.co/vEdGgwnerj
86th over: Pakistan 321-6 (Younus 99, Sarfraz 1) “Busy” Sarfraz Ahmed is busy: a bit frenetic but able to get off the mark with a scampered single to cover. And so we interrupt this scheduled programming to bring you Younus Century Watch. There’s no single to mid on. Nor is there to square leg. Or mid off. Over.
Iftikhar Ahmed. On debut. At No.7. First 2 balls: tribute to Misbah. Next two balls: tribute to Afridi. He is obviously the next great.
85th over: Pakistan 320-6 (Younus 99, Sarfraz 0) Make that 25...
WICKET: And he's done it. Captain Misbah gone to @chriswoakes. He has 24 this series, the most ever vs PAK #classpic.twitter.com/wDdGID3FjA
Right behind his first and second ball in Test cricket. Drives the third one through extra cover for four. Wafts the fourth in the air down the ground allowing Moeen to scamper towards the Vauxhall End and take a fine diving catch. Woakes trikes twice in an over!
A bit of outswing, a bit of leap off the surface and Misbah edges to Alex Hales at gully. Hales takes the catch and squeezes it tightly as he screams at the ground. Redemption of sorts...
84th over: Pakistan 316-4 (Younus 99, Misbah 15) EDGE! But just short of Joe Root’s right hand as he dives to his right. Four. Broad then decides to have a go at the stumps but Misbah drills him through wide mid on for four. Broad kicks the turf in disgust. Younus gets on strike and drives another boundary, this one through extra cover, to move to 99...
Most consecutive conversions from 90s to 100 in Tests:
Younis Khan 29*
D Bradman 29
K Sangakkara 23
- Younis has a chance to beat Bradman
83rd over: Pakistan 303-4 (Younus 95, Misbah 6) Misbah steals a single into the leg side, as bat pad is on his heels expecting the big heave-ho. An in-ducker headed for the toe of Younus is somehow bunted inside-out through extra cover for four. “He is a man who sees a hundred as a journey rather than a destination,” says Atherton.
82nd over: Pakistan 298-4 (Younus 91, Misbah 5) Movement into the right-handed Younus Khan from Broad, but nothing too precarious for a man on 91. The over ends with a drive stopped in the covers. Done
81st over: Pakistan 298-4 (Younus 91, Misbah 5) Chris Woakes will take the new nut. He deserves it. Three slips bunch up, with a gully and backward point beyond them. A maiden to start, but good movement away from the right-hander for Woakes. Stuart Broad will bowl from the Pavilion End.
80th over: Pakistan 298-4 (Younus 91, Misbah 5) There it is. There’s the real Younus Khan – a sharp flourish outside off stump fires the ball off towards backward point for four. The new ball is now in play and Alastair Cook is taking it. Reviews reset, too...
79th over: Pakistan 290-4 (Younus 83, Misbah 5) A fine delivery from Woakes squares up Misbah and keeps a touch low as it wobbles through to Bairstow. Bit of movement from Woakes but probably not enough to warrant ignoring the new ball when it’s available. “I see Younis Khan went to Younus Khan from the 76th to 77th over. People may be interested to know (they probably aren’t) that its an Arabic name and that all three versions (notice my surname) are valid versions in the language.” I’ve always wondered that, Nabeel Younas. From all of us, thank you for the clarification.
78th over: Pakistan 290-4 (Younus 83, Misbah 5) Younus gets himself into a tangle as he tries, yet again, to access that area behind square leg. However, he only proceeds to hit the ball into his pad, which balloons up in the air. Anderson, lurking at leg slip, charges to his left but is unable to get there in time.
77th over: Pakistan 286-4 (Younus 80, Misbah 4) Evening all. Good innings by Shafiq, that, and his first at a position other than number six. Just one over of Joe Root from the Vauxhall End, as Chris Woakes replaces him. Younus jumps inside the line of the first ball and helps it around the corner for four. No sign of any movement with this old ball. New one now two overs away.
76th over: Pakistan 281-4 (Younis 75, Misbah 4)The new batsman is the wonderful Misbah-ul-Haq, who might just be playing his last Test. He deflects his first ball into the ground and through the slips for four. That’s it from me; Vish will be with you till the close. Thanks for the emails and the nostalgia. Bye. Bye.
This is a stunning catch from Stuart Broad! Shafiq pulled Finn flat and hard towards short midwicket, where Broad leapt to his left and grabbed the ball with both hands. That was a brilliant catch to end a lovely innings, and it’s such an important wicket with the second new ball soon to come. Were the word not so repellent, you might even call Broad’s catch a gamechanger.
75th over: Pakistan 275-3 (Shafiq 108, Younis 75) Moeen has been whacked out of the attack, to be replaced by Joe Root. Younis, who is racing along now, tickles him down the leg side for four. That was very close to Bairstow’s left hand.
It’s easy to look at the scoreboard and say OH BLOODY HELL, but really England have bowled well today. It’s a flat pitch and the batsmen enjoyed more favourable conditions.
74th over: Pakistan 270-3 (Shafiq 107, Younis 70) Younis again jumps across his crease to flick Finn fine for four. Try saying that after 49 pints of mild.
“England made a poor decision when they won the toss at Edgbaston in 1984,” says Gary Naylor CBE JCL. “They elected to bat when they should have just run away.”
73rd over: Pakistan 265-3 (Shafiq 106, Younis 66) Younis Khan is, in the parlance of our time, owning Moeen. He reverse sweeps for four more, and Moeen has unpleasant figues of 16-0-8431. Ordinarily a nought in the wicket column is the thing to worry about but here the zero in the maiden column is just as troubling.
“Ahem...the one place left in the team - McGrath or Ambrose?” says Robert Wilson. “Well, Marshall, obviously. AND Akram! Two players taking the same place might seem controversial to the unGodly but that would be an ecumenical matter...”
72nd over: Pakistan 256-3 (Shafiq 102, Younis 61) Finn is back. Younis Khan is batting like Younis Khan again, and that is a really ominous sign for England. If he is still in tomorrow morning, and Pakistan are no more than four down, they could build a huge lead.
“Pretty disastrous decision to bat first from Strauss here,” says my colleague Dan Lucas. True but only in hindsight – it was the right decision at the time, they just batted badly and were frazzled by fire alarms and injury scares and the thought of winning the Ashes.
71st over: Pakistan 253-3 (Shafiq 101, Younis 59) Asad Shafiq finally reaches a stylish hundred by pushing Moeen past mid-on for a single. Terrific stuff. He was in the strange position of being pushed up the order despite getting a pair in the previous Test, but this has been a high-class innings including 12 fours and two sixes. It’s his ninth Test century and his second outside Asia.
70th over: Pakistan 249-3 (Shafiq 99, Younis 58) Younis Khan gets his first fifty of the series with a punishing cut stroke off Anderson for four, and then Chinese cuts another boundary past Bairstow. It’s always so uplifting to see a struggling great return to form. This match is following a very similar pattern to the last Test at Edgbaston. At the close on day two of that game, Pakistan were 257 for three in reply to England’s 297.
69th over: Pakistan 239-3 (Shafiq 99, Younis 48) Asad Shafiq is stuck on 99. He runs down the track to Moeen but scuffs a drive to short midwicket, and then he mistimes a cut to point. That was his 14th delivery on 99.
68th over: Pakistan 238-3 (Shafiq 99, Younis 47)Anderson continues to tempt Shafiq, who is on 99, by bowling a ninth-stump line. Shafiq ignores a few, fresh-airs a loose cut stroke and then reverts to strokelessness. An intriguing maiden.
67th over: Pakistan 238-3 (Shafiq 99, Younis 47)Pakistan are ushering Moeen Ali towards the cleaners. Younis runs down the track and belts a big six over long on, which brings the deficit down to 90. Hang on, all of a sudden there’s an England review. Moeen got one to turn sharply into Younis, who was cramped for room as he tried to cut. Did it hit the flap of the pad first? No. It didn’t hit it second either: it came straight off the top of the bat. Oh well. If you don’t buy a ticket, you don’t lose the raffle.
66th over: Pakistan 232-3 (Shafiq 99, Younis 41) Anderson returns in place of Broad. Shafiq pushes him for two to move to 99. Anderson spends the rest of the over trying to tempt Shafiq into something loose outside off stump. Shafiq says, No dice, solider.
Now, in view of Alastair Cook’s potentially costly decision at the toss yesterday, can anyone recall infamous examples of a captain choosing to bat first? The one that comes to mind is Michael Clarke at Edgbaston last year, but I can’t think of many others.
65th over: Pakistan 230-3 (Shafiq 97, Younis 41) Younis sweeps Moeen firmly through backward square leg for four. This is a man who, when he gets in, tends to make it count – he has an extraordinary conversion rate of 30 fifties and 31 hundreds. A single brings Shafiq on strike, and he swings Moeen was a graceful six over long on. Lovely stuff, and a single takes him to within three of his hundred.
64th over: Pakistan 218-3 (Shafiq 90, Younis 36)Shafiq misses an ambitious hook at a very short ball from Broad. Younis, meanwhile, has quietly moved to his highest score of the series; this is a worry for England.
63rd over: Pakistan 217-3 (Shafiq 90, Younis 35)“McGrath and Ambrose?” says Billy Mills. “Drop one of the other bowlers. Get them both in. Imagine batting against that pair in tandem.” You’d go, erm, dotty.
62nd over: Pakistan 209-3 (Shafiq 86, Younis 31)Four more to Shafiq, via a flashing back cut off the bowling of Broad. This has been a gorgeous innings, and the speed of it (86 from 136 balls) has created a problem for an England side who don’t like a moving scoreboard. Pakistan trail by 119 and could – could – bat England right out of this game in the next 24 hours.
61st over: Pakistan 204-3 (Shafiq 81, Younis 31)A lovely stroke from Younis, who crashes Moeen through the covers for four.
“Curtly Ambrose Masterclass,” says Jonathan Lewis. “23 overs, 12 maidens, 30 runs, 2 wickets. Oh, and don’t talk to him, never mind swear. Here is a pointless question; one space left in your team – McGrath or Ambrose?”
60th over: Pakistan 200-3 (Shafiq 81, Younis 27)Younis hooks Broad for a single to bring up the 200. England need at least one wicket before the second new ball, ideally a couple.
“What happened, anyway?” says Josh Robinson. “I thought you’d retired from the Graun to become a jakey?”
59th over: Pakistan 199-3 (Shafiq 81, Younis 26)Moeen has decided to go around the wicket to Shafiq, just for the hell of it, just for the sake of it. Shafiq steers a couple to third man, crunches a drive that is well fielded at short midwicket and chases a wide one that skips past the edge.
“With all the celebration of wonders past and present on the Test OBO, JCLs, books about it for a penny, can I just remind everyone that there’s a County Cricket Live! blog on the G which runs just about any time there’s county cricket going on?” writes Romeo. “Tomorrow is the Roses match, and the blog will be full of camaraderie across county boundaries, laced with wit and tangential wisdom, and a lot of being very silly.”
58th over: Pakistan 197-3 (Shafiq 79, Younis 26)Hello. It’s Stuart Broad to start after tea. Shafiq tries to cut a wide ball that swerves and dips outrageously after beating the bat and goes through the diving Bairstow for a bye.
“766 and All That,” begins Dan Lucas. “What % of the £0.01 do I get for the two comments I had published and included in the book back when I was on the other side of the OBO?”
Related: England players can skip Bangladesh tour over terror fears with places secure
57th over: Pakistan 196-3 (Shafiq 79, Younis 26) Moeen will bowl the last ball before tea. Shafiq misses out on a four-ball first up and then cuts two to deep point. That’s the end of a good session, in which both sides played with considerable determination and discipline. Pakistan are ostensibly on top, but the fact they lost from an even better position at Edgbaston makes it hard to say with any certainty which team in the ascendancy. That’s how we like it: this thing of ours is never better than when nobody has a clue who is winning. See you in 20 minutes for the evening session.
56th over: Pakistan 193-3 (Shafiq 76, Younis 26)Shafiq is caught at short leg off the pad. The crowd cheered, thinking there was an inside-edge, but the bowler Finn knew. This has nonetheless been an excellent old-ball spell from Finn, which has ripped Shafiq from his bubble of serenity.
“Afternoon Rob,” says Simon McMahon. “The vital social function of the OBO is much underrated, allowing as it does my friend, father to two teenage daughters who spend most of their leisure time alone watching YouTube whilst rolling their eyes at anything he says or does, to feel part of their digital world. It also keeps him off the drink during the day. Thanks OBO.”
55th over: Pakistan 192-3 (Shafiq 75, Younis 26)Younis jumps across the crease to work a short ball from Woakes to fine leg for four. Although they lead 2-1, England have spent the majority of this series with their back against the wall, and it is there again now. It’s been such a good series, the best in this country for a while.
“Afternoon Rob,” says Phil Powell. “On the theme of lost entries form OBO books, I believe you were on duty when i drunkenly emailed to share the news of the birth of my Australian/English Nephew, which you kindly put out on the OBO. When the book came out I purchased two copies, one for me, one I was intending to get you to sign and send to the nipper as a heartfelt gift. Imagine my surprise/annoyance/raging fury when it turned out the birth of a baby bringing the two warring nations together in a small way had been omitted in the final edit. My Australian brother in law reminds me of this failure to get published on a regular basis. Thanks for nothing, editing types!”
54th over: Pakistan 188-3 (Shafiq 75, Younis 22)Finn now has a short leg and leg slip in an attempt to enliven proceedings. In the Sky commentary box, Bumble does just that by launching into a rendition of Tiger Feet by Mud: “That’s right that’s right that’s right that’s right!” Shafiq, expecting a short ball, gets in a mess with a delivery that rams into the top of the bat as he pulls his bottom hand away. He is sufficiently rattled that the next ball takes the inside edge and flies past the diving Bairstow. It was given as byes but there was definitely an inside-edge. Excellent roughhouse bowling from Finn.
53rd over: Pakistan 183-3 (Shafiq 75, Younis 21)A maiden from Woakes to Shafiq. England haven’t done much wrong the ball today. This is a flat pitch and a very good batting day. They’ll regret those three dropped catches before lunch, mind.
52nd over: Pakistan 183-3 (Shafiq 75, Younis 21)I reckon Younis is going to get his first big score of the series here. He still looks jittery in defence but there is more conviction in his attacking strokes. This game is so well poised; we could be on for a classic final day on Monday.
“My favourite OBO memory is probably Auckland in 2013,” says Josh Robinson, “but there have been some real gems over the years. And it’s interesting to think about how the OBO has changed over the years. Obviously the 2005 Ashes was a watershed -- and in retrospect I think because of technology as much as because of the cricket, as it was the last series where people could come home from work and follow the evening session on terrestrial TV. But there’s been a broader shift, too, from the OBO as a means for people in offices furtively to keep in touch with the score, to people who use it as an extended sitting room or bar, to chat about the cricket while they watch it. So obviously WiFi and then mobile internet have had a decisive effect here. But what other technological changes have mediated the shifts?”
51st over: Pakistan 180-3 (Shafiq 73, Younis 20)Woakes, on for Anderson, is cut for three by Shafiq. He was cramped for room and may have hit it twice – once high up the bat and once at the bottom in his follow through. Younis is then drawn into a loose drive at a very wide outswinger that beats the edge.
50th over: Pakistan 175-3 (Shafiq 70, Younis 18) “I rushed out to purchase a copy of Is It Cowardly to Pray for Rain? as a present for my Dad - a prolific attender of creative-writing courses - and boasted that I’d had my work published in an actual book,” says Tom Van der Gucht. “Having read it cover to cover, he took great pleasure in rubbing my nose in it that my comment hadn’t been included; goading me that it must have been so bad, they’d edited out. I later realised that I hadn’t managed to get any comments on the OBO during the Test series, and that the witty bon mots I’d erroneously remembered were during the ODI series before it. I made no such mistake for the 766 sequel and often remained up late in order to fire off comments during the graveyard OBO slots, in the middle of the night, as there would be less competition while all sane cricket fans were sleeping...”
And if you also want to impress/disappoint your father, you can buy both OBO books for £0.01 on Amazon.
49th over: Pakistan 173-3 (Shafiq 69, Younis 17) So much Anderson not conceding runs: Younis gets a couple of boundaries in that over, a flick through midwicket followed by a cover-drive. England’s bowlers have gone to the well a few times in this series, and they’ll need to go again: Pakistan trail by just 155 with plenty of batting to come.
“I had no idea you’d be OBOing today but I had the same thought as you re: good Jimmy/bad Jimmy, so much so that I tried to google a description of an Anderson wicket that you (I think) made in 2008 (maybe?) of ‘the old 33 card trick’,” says Dave Voss. “I couldn’t find it sadly but it’s there in my “classic OBO memory bank”. Millings, Naylor, Andrea Lowe - all good blasts from the past. All we need now is Neil Stork-Brett and we’ll be there.”
48th over: Pakistan 164-3 (Shafiq 69, Younis 7) Finn replaces Moeen and is cut easily for four by Shafiq – not once but twice. Shafiq was apparently reluctant to move up the order but looks to the manor born in his new position at No3/No4 with a nightwatchman.
47th over: Pakistan 155-3 (Shafiq 61, Younis 7) DCI Anderson continues to interrogate Younis’s technique, until Younis does the sensible thing and gets off strike. Shafiq is then beaten by a beautiful outswinger. Anderson has figures of 13-5-28-0. Three an over is standard practice in modern Test cricket, yet Anderson has only gone for three an over in two of his last 21 Tests innings.
46th over: Pakistan 154-3 (Shafiq 61, Younis 6) I’d be tempted to attack Younis wth pace at both ends before he gets his eye in. Moeen continues for now, and Younis plays defensively before working the last ball for a single.
“Back in my college days, when the world was young and all was well, the cricket types used to ask ‘Where’s the Rodney?’ when they needed to pee (honouring the decent and under-used Aussie quick of a few years before),” says Robert Wilson. “Sadly, it was the only thing I truly absorbed at university and my Pavlovian Where’s the Rodney? would still slip out well into the 90s. By which time it had clearly - if mysteriously - become slang for a whole other expensive and illegal thing one did in the bathroom.”
45th over: Pakistan 153-3 (Shafiq 61, Younis 5) Jimmy Anderson almost gets the wicket he deserves. Shafiq edges a forcing shot that flies over the motionless Root at second slip and wide of the leaping Cook at first. Root should probably have gone for it but the reaction time was minimal and I think he thought it was closer to Cook.
“Afternoon Rob, afternoon everyone,” says Guy Hornsby. “I am such a JCL. Having professed he was a cypher for many years, I have indeed had the pleasure to meet ‘Online Cricket’s Gary Naylor’, most recently at this series’ Lords test, where we talked 2005 Ashes and our putative OBO experiences before the start of play. And what a gent he is. I’d been lurking for some time before my first printed email, back in the first test v Pakistan in Multan eleven years ago. I still had hair then, it was a more carefree, happier time. And that Lawrence Booth, I mean, whatever happened to him?”
44th over: Pakistan 147-3 (Shafiq 55, Younis 5) Asad Shafiq skids back in his crease to late cut Moeen for four and reach a high-class fifty from only 75 balls. He repeats the stroke later in the over despite a bit of extra bounce. Lovely batting.
“Naylor’s not the only one with kids, a job, and a li-...with kids and a job,” writes Mac Millings. “I’m currently waiting in an auditorium with my three young ‘uns, for Mrs. Millings’s medical school graduation ceremony to begin. The kids have already made one couple move to the other side of the room, and there’s still 35 minutes before the ceremony starts.”
43rd over: Pakistan 138-3 (Shafiq 46, Younis 5) Remember the days of Good Jimmy and Bad Jimmy? Now there is just Bloody Good Jimmy, all the bloody time. He is toying with Younis here, and raps him on the thigh with a big inswinger. An excellent maiden from Anderson takes us to drinks.
42nd over: Pakistan 138-3 (Shafiq 46, Younis 5) Shafiq is playing Moeen really well and puts him away through the covers for four.
41st over: Pakistan 132-3 (Shafiq 41, Younis 4) Younis has had a dreadful series, with his legs moving all over the place and a top score of 33. England will steal fear him though, because if he gets in he has the proven capacity to score monstrous hundreds.
“Cricketers have always used rhyming slang, some of it obscure,” writes Lord Selvey. “At Middlesex for example, the phrase ‘steeples on the hey’ meant it was time to take the field. Steeples = church spires = umpires on the hey-diddle-diddle. I used it frequently during TMS summarising stints. One day, on air with The Major, CMJ, he thought he would join in.
40th over: Pakistan 131-3 (Shafiq 40, Younus 4) England were definitely appealing for LBW – Bairstow and Moeen had started to appeal, and Bairstow caught the ball almost as an afterthought. Sometimes you eat the DRS, and sometimes the DRS eats you.
“Unfortunately Professor Matthew Cobb is wrong (despite his likely Geoff Hurst),” says Rich Ibbotson. “I can confirm that as a recent graduate, Desmond is still very much in use among the youth of today. I was happy to scrape by with a Trevor.” Nelson?
Azhar Ali is given out on review. He tried to sweep Moeen, missed and gloved the ball up to Bairstow. I think England might have been appealing for LBW, or at least that Bruce Oxenford thought they were. Either way, it clearly hit the glove before looping to Bairstow. Moeen strikes, and Azhar goes for 49, a 113-ball innings that contained nine fours and one impromptu toilet break.
39th over: Pakistan 126-2 (Azhar 49, Shafiq 39) Alastair Cook really shouldn’t have chosen to bat first yesterday should he? Don’t forget that one of the two wickets to fall in this innings is the nightwatchman Yasir. England could certainly do with another, so Cook turns to Jimmy Anderson. Azhar flashes loosely and is beaten; then Azhar flashes loosely and edges over gully for four. As my sensei Mac Millings always said: if you’re gonna flash, flash hard.
Related: England’s Alex Hales fined for reaction dismissal in fourth Test against Pakistan
38th over: Pakistan 122-2 (Azhar 45, Shafiq 39) Moeen replaces Woakes, which might move the game along one way or the other. And so it is: Shafiq dances down the track to clout a sweet six over long-on.
“Like so much in cricket, I like to think of the OBO as having a pre-2005 and post-2005 period, with the very worst of the JCLs sliming in during the Ashes themselves,” says David Hopkins (2002-). “It’s quite a shock to learn that Naylor wasn’t around during that series. For my part I would suggest a true long-termer would have had a mention from Lawrence Booth and remembers both Andrea Lowe and Gus, that fella who was lusting after his older colleague.”
37th over: Pakistan 113-2 (Azhar 44, Shafiq 31) A maiden from Broad to Shafiq. If yesterday was end-to-end stuff, with both sides attacking, today is a cagey midfield batt- ENOUGH WITH THE FOOTBALL ALREADY. England want to keep control of the run-rate; Pakistan want to keep control of the wicket-rate.
“Would you be so kind as to let me know how many arms Gary Naylor has,” says Lee Smth. “I’ve just been reading the Olympics blog and there he is. I come back to the OBO and he’s all over that like Old Spice as well. If there was a County Championship Live! blog I’d bet he’d be there. What is he? Some sort of sporting octopus?”
36th over: Pakistan 113-2 (Azhar 44, Shafiq 31) There is a little bit of swing now – out for Woakes, in for Broad – that will encourage England. A quiet over from Woakes, after which Azhar Ali runs off the pitch for an urgent
Michael Twisscall of nature. He’s taking his time. “Has he taken the paper in with him?!” says Bumble.
“I met the fictitious Gary Naylor myself last evening, along with the equally novel Sir Dan Lucas,” says Ian Copestake. “All that remains for me to achieve is tea with Thomas Pynchon.”
35th over: Pakistan 112-2 (Azhar 44, Shafiq 30)Broad is moving around on the crease a bit, trying to make something happen. Pakistan’s top order looks more solid after that reshuffle, even though it was only a minor change. Broad bowls one to first slip that is called wide by Marais Erasmus. The affronted coupon on Broad when he saw it was a wide! Azhar then flicks an inswinger to fine leg for four, though he was late on it and would have been plumb LBW had he been any later on the shot.
“Much as I would like to see Curtly Ambrose giving a masterclass, I won’t be watching Sky as I refuse to give Rupert Murdoch a penny of earned income,” says Sarah Skelding. “This means that I haven’t seen any live cricket on a television for quite a few years now, which grieves me, but sill, we’ve got the OBO until the ECB see sense. I chanced to meet Curtly when he came to Wellington CC to pick up Carl Hooper. Lovely chap. Very, very tall.” He is the most magnificent human being. With the exception of Dermot Reeve, I can’t imagine anyone in the world disliking him.
34th over: Pakistan 106-2 (Azhar 40, Shafiq 29)Woakes ends a quiet over with a beauty that draws Azhar towards the flame and then swerves past the outside edge. He does bowl some jaffas, does Woakes 2.0.
33rd over: Pakistan 105-2 (Azhar 40, Shafiq 28)This looks like a chip-away day for England, same as day two at Edgbaston. They like to keep control of the scoreboard in such circumstances; Pakistan’s current run rate of 3.10 is probably a touch too high for their liking. Broad pitches his last ball up to Azhar, who drives sweetly through mid-off for four. Lovely batting. Azhar, like England’s Ali, has enjoyed the opportunities for recovery afforded by a longer series: his scores have been 7, 23, 1, 8, 139, 38 and 40*.
“When I was playing at Wanstead Cricket Club in the late 70s there was an attempt to call boundaries a Denis (Law) or a Tom (Mix),” says Dave Clark. It didn’t catch on.” You say it didn’t catch on, but page 1273 of the 1979 Wisden tells a different story.
32nd over: Pakistan 101-2 (Azhar 36, Shafiq 28)Chris Woakes starts with a poor delivery on the pads that is flicked breezily over midwicket for four by Shafiq. He is playing nicely after his pair at Edgbaston, and has the ability to bat all day in conditions like this. This Test is beautifully poised; you can envisage Pakistan chasing something like 200 on the fifth day to draw the series.
“Hello Rob,” writes Professor Matthew Cobb. “Blazers for goalposts, degree results on notice-boards – that is indeed how it used to be. Students now get their results online. There are no more giggling/crying groups of students around a noticeboard, and no one says ‘I got a Desmond’, if indeed they ever did…” Imagine if Tinder and Twitter had existed in the 1990s; it wouldn’t have been a campus so much as an exclusion zone #restrainingorder.
31st over: Pakistan 97-2 (Azhar 36, Shafiq 24) Stuart Broad begins the afternoon session. There’s a delay because a fat bloke standing by a locker door is in Azhar Ali’s eyeline, and eventually it’s a maiden.
“I am a JCL - outed!!” says Gary Naylor. “It’s hot at The Oval!”
How on earth was Alex Hales able to gatecrash the 3rd ump's room after he was out yesterday? No way would England have given him permission.
What are you doing tomorrow morning? No you’re not: Sky have a Curtly Ambrose masterclass at 10am.
“Dear Rob,” says Artie Prendergast-Smith. “Technically, ‘Desmond’ is not rhyming slang. In other news, I hate myself.”
You want to kill me with pedantry? Go ahead, Artie, do it. (Tedious warning: clip contains strong language, from the start.)
If you go to university, the moment when you scan all the names and look for your degree result is among the most nerve-racking of your life. Will your effort be rewarded appropriately? Or will you get a good degree? Those who receive a 2:2, and jauntily tell their friends they “got a Desmond” because they are at an age where they still find rhyming slang funny, are generally using banter to disguise mild disappointment. It’s a Desmond, sure, but if only they’d occasionally responded to that irksome 11am alarm, it might have got a Trevor Nunn or even a Geoff Hurst.
In Test cricket, where colons are replaced by dashes, a 2-2 is nothing to be disappointed about. It’s a rare and admirable thing. There have been only ten 2-2 series draws in Test history, and that result is so much worthier than a 1-1 draw: the players have been through so much more – look at Moeen Ali’s arc for an example – and the ebb and flow has been greater. They are Test series in name and nature, and at the end of the series, two weary teams get together to chew the fat over a beer Gatorade.
Philosophical question
If catches win matches, what happens if both drop 25 between them in the series?
Hello. First to the important business: Sir Gary Naylor is a Guardian JCL. The tattoo on my soul tells me he first started emailing regularly during the 2006-07 Ashes, four years after Scott Murray came up with the idea for the OBO. So.
30th over: Pakistan 97-2 (Azhar 36, Shafiq 24) None of this shutting up shop before the break: Azhar is still in business and drives inside Moeen at wide mid off for four. “You can’t call Gary Naylor a JCL!” shouts Dennis O’Neill. “He’s been sending in stuff on just about everything the Guardian has ever done a live blog on since the very first, from Test cricket right the way down to the Ashton-under-Lyme under-11 girls’ tiddlywinks league. And I didn’t buy ‘Is it cowardly...’ even though I was in it because they spelled my name wrong! My only ever chance to get in print and someone else blew it. Still gutted.” At least I remember the two Ls. That’s it from me. A decent morning session for Pakistan and, on the face of it, not great from England allowed nightwatchman Yasir Shah to make 26 (he was the only wicket to fall, to) and dropped three catches. King of our world Rob Smyth will be joining you after the break...
29th over: Pakistan 92-2 (Azhar 35, Shafiq 20) With two slips in, Moeen bowls a high full toss that Bairstow takes above his head. Not the first time we’ve seen that from Moeen. Rameez Raja reckons it was an attempted “half doosra, half spinner”. That sounds like half nonsense, half jibberish.
28th over: Pakistan 91-2 (Azhar 35, Shafiq 20) Fine movement and a better shot as Azhar Ali goes back, across and pushes Finn elegantly through extra cover for four. A shorter delivery on his ribs has Azhar hopping, but his hands get him out of trouble as they work the ball beyond bat-pad and away for four through square leg. Right out of the middle. Then a drop! A return catch but should have been taken: Azhar checks a drive straight back at the bowler, who drops to his knees as he attempts the catch. Grassed.
Not necessarily a shock that the bowler who's incorporated falling over into his follow through misses hard C&B.
27th over: Pakistan 83-2 (Azhar 27, Shafiq 20) Change in the bowling as Moeen Ali replaces the luckless Woakes at the Vauxhall End. Immediately Azhar Ali uses his feet to come to the pitch of the ball but can’t beat the man at cover. He does, however, nab a single to the man pushed back at mid on. Two more single follow, both out to Broad at deep point. No signs of any spin whatsoever.
26th over: Pakistan 80-2 (Azhar 25, Shafiq 19) Slight delay in the over as Azhar Ali gets some treatment on his right wrist, having fended away a rising delivery from Finn. It allows the players to get an extra drink and some (Moeen) a sit down.
Pakistan's dropped catches were a theme on Day One.
England will be hoping it's not one of them days... pic.twitter.com/uy7SohcZ5s
25th over: Pakistan 78-2 (Azhar 24, Shafiq 18) Nerdy nonsense alert, but I love how these two play in the V. Azhar Ali in particular because he seems to play with to the very edge of it, often stepping across onto off stump and driving to mid on with a twitch of his front shoulder. Nothing wrong with the pace of their play either – just under 3.5 an over. Lunch is 20 minutes away and so, too, is a pat on the back from their skipper.
24th over: Pakistan 74-2 (Azhar 23, Shafiq 15) A three flicked around the corner is Azhar’s lot from Finn, who has swung the ball well in his five overs so far. Ben Akrigg emails with “Rob Smyth rules omnipotent” as the subject: “Andy Plowman (21st over) has just reminded me of the DADDY episode. Do thank him very much for re-awakening the bewildering horror.”
This, sent on to the blog by Dan Lucas, is really quite something
Related: Chris Packham using BBC role to push grouse-shooting ban, Ian Botham says
23rd over: Pakistan 71-2 (Azhar 20, Shafiq 15) Another drop of Chris Woakes, this time by Anderson at third slip. It was a tough chance – Shafiq went hard at the ball, sending it sharply to Anderson’s right. Sky clocked the reaction time at over 0.5 seconds (they say most slip catches are around 0.6) but Anderson, and of course Woakes, are downhearted. A second, more deliberate four comes through mid off to frustrate both further.
22nd over: Pakistan 63-2 (Azhar 20, Shafiq 7) Fine shot from Shafiq to pick up three through wide mid on. The ball doesn’t go all the way, but it’s slow enough to give Shafiq the long applause that his play deserves. He coaxed Finn into bowling straighter and was sharp enough to counter an attack on his stumps.
21st over: Pakistan 60-2 (Azhar 20, Shafiq 4) Good rhythm, pace and blues from Woakes. Each delivery is sent down with maximum effort – each walk back to his mark speaks of the woe of a digit missing in his wicket column (so to speak). Another maiden. Andy Plowman on email says: “Just a note of thanks for allowing Naylor to post that OBO update, which I’m typing while barely gripping the keyboard with my fingertips, as the rip in the space-time continuum that’s opened up next to my desk threatens to drag me off into a parallel universe where Rob Smyth rules omnipotent, the proles worship the great god Tava’re and the rivers and lakes run fluorescent green with Relentless.”
20th over: Pakistan 60-2 (Azhar 20, Shafiq 4) Great carry from Finn has you almost fearing for Bairstow. I’m sat right behind the action at the Vauxhall End and you can make out a minuscule sliver of light through Bairstow’s cupped gloves. If one gets through... wowser.
19th over: Pakistan 60-2 (Azhar 20, Shafiq 9) Brilliant timing from Azhar Ali as Woakes pushes him back but Azhar works through midwicket for four.
Fiiiiiiiin!!!!!! @allymaughan@Vitu_E#ENGvPAKpic.twitter.com/VUSNloDod5
“And then I caught it one-handed and I said ‘what are you worried about?’”
WATCH: Juggling but calm @root66 grab Yasir for 26 off @finnysteve. PAK 52-2: https://t.co/XbFzNuRrnw#InvestecTesthttps://t.co/mzd6mQoukx
18th over: Pakistan 56-2 (Azhar 16, Shafiq 4) Excellent from Finn, nabbing Yasir after the drinks break. Asad Shafiq comes in, which makes a lot of sense if we disregard the nightwatchman. He has the game for number three, especially with Azhar pushing up to open. Shafiq, who got a pair at Egbaston, gets off the mark with a mistimed drive through cover for four.
There it is... just! Finn finds the edge of Shah’s slightly angled bat through to Joe Root. The ball goes through his hands and clatters up off his chest but comfortably enough to complete the catch nonchalantly with one hand.
17th over: Pakistan 52-1 (Azhar 16, Yasir 26) The baby-faced assassin, Ole-Gunnar Woakes, had to wait nearly an hour for Alastair Cook to call him up for a bowl - he had a good bat yesterday and he paid the same subs as everyone else after all. Immediately he hit the deck hard and and Yasir Shah could only steer it to Alex Hales at gully who promptly dropped it. That must have tasted sweet for Yasir who received a piece of Hale’s mind - and not a nice one - when his catch was upheld on review this time yesterday. A single from the over.
16th over: Pakistan 47-1 (Azhar 16, Yasir 21) Steven Finn to replace Broad from the Pavilion End, off the back of a good second innings display at Egbaston. He takes a tumble first ball and Azhar nicks a single past his sprawled body. The next two deliveries beat Shah’s drive, but the third is short and allows Yasir to dab it into the off side for a single. Good start. I think Paul Graham has found the JCL.
@Vitu_E I think you can count yourself a long term OBOer if you bought "Is It Cowardly..." because you were in it. Fair dos?
15th over: Pakistan 45-1 (Azhar 15, Yasir 20) Utter seed from Anderson – nips in, pitches, bit of “how’s your father” and away past the outside edge. Wasted on a tailender, perhaps. Maybe not Shah, who is confident enough to play at an inswinger and get bat through cover for two. Anderson puts a bit more into the next delivery but sends it high and wide of Jonny Bairstow, down the leg side.
14th over: 39-1 (Azhar 15, Yasir 18) Good from Azhar Ali: there’s a deep point out for him so when Broad gives him width, he plays late to get it through gully and away for four. A bluff to finish as Broad makes a show of putting two men out on the hook and then bowls wide of off stump. Left well alone.
13th over: Pakistan 34-1 (Azhar 11, Yasir 17) Azhar stands proudly in front of all three for all six. Covers the inducker, leaves the one that goes away (perhaps a wobble ball?).
12th over: Pakistan 34-1 (Azhar 11, Yasir 17) These two exchange singles before Yasir punches Broad beautifully through midwicket – he’s driven him, basically – for four. Graeme Thorn suggests that with so many overs unbowled, teams should be forced to return for a SIXTH day, tongue poking cheek (both his, I should add). I’m all for that: if you had bits left over from the working week, you’d come in for the weekend would you not? Or at the very least take it home with you. I’m not totally against Stuart Broad taking a 60-over-old Dukes ball how with him and pounding up and down his garden for 20-minutes, with the 10 o’clock news in the background.
11th over: Pakistan 28-1 (Azhar 10, Yasir 12) A maiden from Anderson. Both he and Broad have spoken about how when one is on the cusp of a good day, the other just needs to keep things tight. And Anderson has done just that. To John Starbuck: “On TMS they have been tacking the evergreen slow over-rates problem. Top of the solutions list are...
1) Awarding the batting side five runs for every over under the required 30 per session
2) Deducting a fielder each session for the same crime (reinstated when the over rate comes back to par)
3) Forcing the fielding side to play in their pants, a la the missing PE kit punishment.
10th over: Pakistan 28-1 (Azhar 10, Yasir 12) Just as I big-up Yasir’s aptitude, Broad begins what has to be his fastest spell of the summer. The speed gun has him at 90mph. Yes. Really. He gets one to hurry through bat and pad, clipping pad along the way. Broad celebappeals all the way through to Bairstow, but it’s not given and there’s no review. He then rattles Shah on the hand with a short delivery that falls beyond bat-pad. The follow-up rises outside off stump and is skewed into a vacant gully region. Just when it looked like Shah was circling the drain, he swings hard at a full ball and clatters it through cover for four. Glorious theatre.
9th over: Pakistan 22-1 (Azhar 10, Yasir 6) While it’s sad not to see Rahat Ali’s clowning about as nightwatchman, it is nice to see Yasir get a promotion of sorts. He’s the only tail end batsman that has shown anything resembling attitude. England went hard at him last night after the disputed catch of Alex Hales, but he held firm, gave a bit back and is now frustrating them this morning. Gary Naylor is strongly refuting the JCL tag levelled at him by Josh Robinson (sixth over).
I think this was my OBO debut @Vitu_E - https://t.co/iSmApvBwGV. JCL indeed!
8th over: Pakistan 19-1 (Azhar 9, Yasir 1) Good batting from Yasir allows him to pick Broad off his legs for three through midwicket to bring Azhar Ali back on strike. The ball is carrying through for Broad, but not doing enough off the surface to disrupt Azhar’s yet. And a very good morning to Rob Wilson: “Gary Naylor is not at all a fictitious persona. Gary is, in point of fact, a symptom of the moral decay that’s gnawing at the heart of the country. He’s always stepping authoritatively all over my dreams of Adil Rashid. On another point, I don’t suppose you could help me swing official accreditation for the Trump Campaign? I’ve been turned down twice. Which does sting.”
Sky cameras can pick up a bug flying into Broad's eye - with slow-mo replays - but not the Shah catch
7th over: Pakistan 16-1 (Azhar 9, Yasir 1) Big fan of Yasir Shah’s leave. It’s not quite Courtney Walsh, but he whips the bat high over the top of the ball, like a matador whisking his cloak over the eyes of an on-rushing bull. The ball is starting to shape for Anderson and the very next delivery has Shah prodding at.
6th over: Pakistan 15-1 (Azhar 9, Yasir 1) Interestingly, James Vince is out of the cordon and doing time at extra cover. A punch to his right is well stopped and hurled to the striker’s end. Josh Robinson emails in: “I thought, back in the day, that Naylor was a JCL? But that got me wondering: what’s the cut-off point for qualification as a long-term OBOist? I’d have thought publication of correspondence during any series before or including the spring 2004 tour to the West Indies, but if others disagree, I’d be interested to know.
“(I’m far from the longest-serving member of this parish, but I do have the honour of having been described by Naylor as a Big OBOer, and my first email was published on day 1 of the first 2003 Test against South Africa.)“
5th over: Pakistan 15-1 (Azhar 9, Yasir 1) First runs off the bat come through cover-point as Azhar gets on his toes and punches Anderson for four. Not much swing on show just yet but enough to find another edge, low and beyond the grasp of third slip, for another boundary to third man.
4th over: Pakistan 4-1 (Azhar 0, Yasir 0) Wholehearted rendition of “Jerusalem” by Laura Wright, who has been at every international match – men, women and reserve day – this season. The workload on these operatic singers is far too great. One from over as Broad oversteps.
“The trouble with having Naylor as an occasional OBOist,” writes John Starbuck, “is that, if he does manage to take a wicket, this would create so much pressure to retain his services that it mucks up the whole thing.” You’ve made Gary Naylor sound like Chris Woakes there. The youthful pup who has to wait till the more experienced but less effective bowlers (certainly this series) pull rank and waste the new ball. With that in mind, I think it is only fair for Gary to take Woakes’ first this morning.
David Hopkins has a request that I’m more than happy to oblige: “To reflect Naylor’s special status amongst the long terms OBOers, could you get him to write one of the over updates for you? It doesn’t have to involve a WICKET! but that would of course be an added bonus.”
May as well pop this in here
Anyone got a spare ticket to Oval? I'm literally 3 mins away in office & could take PM off @DanLucas86@guardian_sport#OvalTest#EngvsPak
Away from the cricket – temporarily of course – it’s one of those days I think you only truly appreciate if you manage to blag those last couple of hours off work to nab seats at a bustling communal garden that’s busy enough to entice you but not put you off. Wherever you end up, we’ll be here filling you in.
Morning all – Vish here coming live and direct from the Kia Oval. Just to ensure I get the full outdoor OBO experience, I’m actually sat next to Gary Naylor, who was once described as “a fictitious persona” involved in “quasi-conversational exchange”. Robert Wilson will be here soon with sandwiches. It’s a belting day in south London without a full-blooded cloud in the sky. Pakistan could well make England’s 328 seem under par. This is prime grazing weather. For now, slap on that factor 50 and read Vic Marks on why England may favour all-rounders over specialists after Moeen’s ton.
Vish will be along shortly. In the meantime why not have a read of this peace by Huw Richards celebrating Garry Sobers’ final Test century:
Related: Celebrating Garry Sobers' 26th and final Test century, a thing of unalloyed beauty
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