London: Pakistan ground England into the Oval dirt on Friday on the way to building a near-impregnable position on the second day of the rain-affected fourth and final Test.
The rain, indeed, is already looking like England's best chance of escape as their visitors, scoring at four runs an over, moved on to 336 for three, 163 runs ahead, before a fresh downpour cut short the last session.
Mohammad Yousuf, having already celebrated scores of 202 and 192 in the series, was unbeaten on 115 and captain Inzamam-ul-Haq on two.
Imran Farhat made a brisk 91 while Mohammed Hafeez fell five short of a century.
England's only consolation, after another wretched day is that they already hold an unassailable 2-0 lead in the four-match series.
Pakistan took England's attack apart in the morning, then worked the gaps in the afternoon to underline their dominance.
Resuming on 96 for one, they shrugged off a late start due to a wet outfield to gallop to 190 for two by lunch in reply to England's paltry 173.
While England's bowlers laboured - Steve Harmison had been so wayward on the opening day that his captain Andrew Strauss studiously ignored him until the brink of lunch - Farhat entertained.
Dropped on 49 on the opening day, he had another scare on 61 when setting off for a non-existent single only for Matthew Hoggard to miss the stumps with his shy.
That incident seemed to bring Farhat to life as 36 runs came off the next five overs.
The left-hander smashed Mahmood through the covers for four lavish fours in two overs, then slogged left-arm spinner Monty Panesar's first ball over mid-on for six.
His next boundary, however, taking him into the nineties, was less convincing.
A flail at a short ball from Hoggard just cleared Andrew Strauss's fingertips at second slip and two balls later he was gone, a similar stroke ending up into Marcus Trescothick's hands.
Farhat scored his runs off 112 balls and in just over two-and-a-half hours, hitting 13 fours and a six.
That was to be England's only success as their fast men dropped too short and wide on a good batting track.
Hoggard perhaps deserved some commiseration, after having four catches dropped off his bowling, including Yousuf on five and nine, but Hafeez was in no mind to indulge him.
Having retired hurt on eight on the opening day, he returned to the crease and collared the swing bowler for three consecutive boundaries at the start of the 38th over, the first to fine leg, the next through the covers and the last, the best, to mid-wicket.
After lunch, the Pakistan batsmen replaced extravagance with risk-free harvesting. The one exception came from Hafeez's bat, when he lofted Panesar effortlessly for six over mid-off before the rain intervened.
Comments
0 comment