Southampton, England
Zak Crawley has put on a batting masterclass as his superb score of 171 steered England to 332 for four at the close of play on the first day of the final Test against Pakistan.
The 22-year-old, together with Jos Buttler, helped the hosts recover after the quickfire losses of Joe Root and Ollie Pope after lunch had left them 127 for four.
Crawley had to initially steady the hosts after the early loss of Rory Burns with England batting first after captain Root had won the toss at the Ageas Bowl.
After winning the toss and electing to bat, England were teetering at 127 for four before the pair steadied the innings, with Crawley sounding his intention with a four from his first delivery.
Pakistan had early success when struggling England opener Rory Burns (6) was caught at third slip by Shan Masood off the bowling of seamer Shaheen Afridi. He now has just 20 runs in four innings in this series.
Dom Sibley (22) was trapped leg before wicket by wily leg-spinner Yasir Shah (2-60), who was introduced after 10 overs of the innings on the dry wicket and found immediate turn.
He also accounted for Ollie Pope (3), a quicker delivery pinning the middle-order batsman on the back foot and clattering into his stumps.
Before that, home captain Joe Root (29) looked well set before he received a super delivery from 17-year-old seamer Naseem Shah that caught his outside edge as it jagged away and provided a catch for wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan.
England have made one change from the drawn second test, restoring fast bowler Jofra Archer to the side in the place of Sam Curran, while Pakistan are unchanged in their quest to snatch a draw in the series.
England won the first test in Manchester by three wickets.—AP
