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England are trailing 2-0 in the Test series and must handle the spin threat of Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman on a turning track to deny Pakistan a clean sweep of the series.
If England are to survive a whitewash, which would be Pakistan’s first against them, they will have to make the second-highest total to win a test match in their history — only the 332 they scored in 1928 to beat Australia in Melbourne would be better.
Pakistan are chasing a record of their own, as no team has scored fewer than 100 in their first innings and won a test in more than 100 years, not since England toppled South Africa in 1907 after posting 76 in their opening knock.
Pakistan should have had an early breakthrough as Alastair Cook edged a simple chance off the bowling of Umar Gul but Taufeeq Umar put down the chance at third slip.
Earlier, Ali’s 157 off 442 balls spanned almost nine hours in Pakistan’s second innings score of 365 before left arm spinner Monty Panesar (five for 124) and Graeme Swann (three for 101) claimed the last seven wickets for just 34 runs. Ali featured in two productive stands, adding 216 runs with overnight century-maker Younis Khan and a further 87 runs with Misbah before England spinners hit back on either side of the tea break. Panesar trapped Misbah leg before to start the collapse. Underscoring the difficulty of the task ahead of England’s batsmen was the fact that its spinners, Panesar and Swann, combined to pick up eight of the ten wickets to fall in Pakistan’s second innings.
Brief scores: Pak 99 & 365 (A Ali 157, Y Khan 127; M Panesar 5/124, G Swann 3/101) vs Eng 141 & 36/0 (Strauss 19*)
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