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Jeor

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Match is still in the balance at the moment. While Yousuf remains at the crease (and he has three recognised batsmen to bat with - Azhar Ali and both Akmals, plus Amir can stick around) Pakistan have a good chance. But they must come away with a lead. Chasing anything over 150 for them is going to be a task so they need a big score out of Yousuf.

Apart from Anderson's first spell this morning there doesn't seem to be much their for the pacemen. Swann is going to have to get some of these middle order wickets, I think.

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Yousuf's out for 56 then, that's a bit of a relief he was starting to look like he was on his way to a big hundred. Still a very good effort from Yousuf considering how little cricket he's played in the past year and the batting as a whole looks more composed with the addition of some experience.

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Yousuf's out for 56 then, that's a bit of a relief he was starting to look like he was on his way to a big hundred. Still a very good effort from Yousuf considering how little cricket he's played in the past year and the batting as a whole looks more composed with the addition of some experience.

Yeah, great effort from Yousuf today. In one innings he already has the highest score by any Pakistani batsman in this series. I suppose it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise though - he scored a lazy 631 runs last time he was in England.

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Yeah, great effort from Yousuf today. In one innings he already has the highest score by any Pakistani batsman in this series.

That record didn't last long, since he does seem to have inspired Azhar Ali to bat a lot better than he has in the series so far. I guess it must be helpful for an inexperience player to have someone like Yousuf at the other end to offer support.

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That record didn't last long, since he does seem to have inspired Azhar Ali to bat a lot better than he has in the series so far. I guess it must be helpful for an inexperience player to have someone like Yousuf at the other end to offer support.

I felt a bit sorry for Ali, he'd been pretty successfully farming the strike to get to 92 then the first time he had any confidence in Asif and let him run two he got out the very next ball.

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The batting for Pakistan was much better - and although I agree that Yousuf's inclusion has generally helped calm the batting as a whole, I think it was also the fact that there were a lot of new faces, not just Yousuf. Yasir Hameed (with a bright 36) and Wahab Riaz (with a gritty nightwatchman's knock) as well as Yousuf himself (56) were behind a lot of the good work in the batting before Azhar Ali came in and made his great knock.

I think that first innings will have emboldened them such that chasing 200 is possible. Earlier I suspected 150 would be a dodgy score for them to chase but having settled down in that first innings they'll have more confidence. In many ways it should have even been more - the Akmals got out cheaply when they shouldn't have.

One just hopes that the bowling continues as it has been for them. It would be a great shame if just when their batting was coming together, their bowling started to go. But that would be in keeping with Pakistan's character of the past few years...

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One just hopes that the bowling continues as it has been for them. It would be a great shame if just when their batting was coming together, their bowling started to go. But that would be in keeping with Pakistan's character of the past few years...

Psychic today, Jeor? ;) Unless the pitch has changed radically between England's first and second innings...

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Great match unfolding. Can Prior bail England out again? Can Pakistan repeat the run-chase that they produced against the Aussies?

ETA: Answer to the first question is no. Prior falling to Aamer just after I posted...

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That went badly wrong pretty quickly, 194-3 to 221-9 in just over an hour and England are second favourites by a long way now. The 30 odd runs Pakistan put on after Strauss dropped Asif are starting to look very significant as well. The Pakistan batting lineup's fragility means that England still have a chance but with Yousuf and Hameed in the team it seems a lot less likely. Good to see a competitive match at last in this series.

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Only Pakistan could mess up 24 runs with 7 wickets in hand. Fricking hell, how hard can it be?

If Umar Akmal gets out once again in a pressure situation...this is his chance for redemption.

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They have to score runs somehow. Umar Akmal is going to have to play some shots. Amir is a decent batsman but he doesn't have many scoring shots, he is primarily a defensive tailender. Akmal is probably worried that he'll get criticised if he gets out playing a shot, but the longer this goes on, the harder it gets for Pakistan and he's going to get criticised if he does nothing. Those runs aren't going to score themselves.

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well done pakistan. they did it, finally. great bowling as always does it for them.

seriously, where would this team be without the two m's and now ajmal as well to complement? great test though, thrilling to the very end.

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Finally this series has delivered - I really didn't expect the first two test matches to be so one-sided.

Looking at the stats as they currently stand, this would have to be the most bowler-dominant series we've seen in a long while. No bowler who played in that last match is averaging over 30 and all but Broad and Finn have five-wicket hauls. Makes for a nice change TBH.

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