NORTHAMPTIONSHIRE: Opener Rob Newton defied the Pakistan bowling to score an unbeaten century as Northamptonshire reached 240-5 on the penultimate day of the four-day tour match at Wantage Road on Sunday.
After conceding a lead of 169 runs on the first innings, the county side was in danger of an early defeat at 57-3 but Newton, who is still battling out with 102, and Adam Rossington (42) staged a fightback before Josh Cobb (52) ensured Pakistan bat again by putting on 94 with Newton.
Earlier, Asad Shafiq reached an undefeated 186 as Pakistan added 71 to their overnight total of 357-7 before being dismissed for 428. Asad’s marathon 389-minute stay saw the diminutive right-hander strike 16 fours and six sixes.
On Saturday, Asad had reached 135 by close of play while Haris Sohail made 79 and Babar Azam 57.
Asad, who was dropped twice, reached his 20th first-class century and shared with Haris a third-wicket stand of 136.
Haris was in good touch but fell trying to hit off-spinner Rob Keogh against the turn when he got a leading edge and was caught at point.
An increasingly fluent Asad slog-swept a second six off Keogh before hitting the same bowler to long-on to complete a 98-ball fifty and he later brought up his hundred, Pakistan’s first of the tour, with a well-controlled sweep shot.
Northamptonshire took the new ball but Asad responded by taking three boundaries in one over off paceman Gareth Wade — a leg glance, pull and extravagant uppercut over cover.
Babar then enlivened proceedings with an attractive fifty off just 61 balls, including six fours.
Scoreboard
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE (1st Innings) 259 (A.M. Rossington 90, R.I. Newton 35, R.E. Levi 31, R. Vasconcelos 30; Shadab Khan 6-77, Rahat Ali 2-25).
PAKISTAN (1st Innings, overnight 357-7):
Azhar Ali b Wade 9
Imam-ul-Haq lbw b Keogh 11
Haris Sohail c Crook b Keogh 79
Asad Shafiq not out 186
Babar Azam c Vasconcelos b Keogh 57
Sarfraz Ahmed b Hutton 8
Shadab Khan c Newton b Crook 3
Fahim Ashraf c Newton b Crook 10
Mohammad Amir b Crook 16
Mohammad Abbas lbw b Crook 1
Rahat Ali c Levi b Keogh 14
EXTRAS (B-12, LB-15, W-1, NB-6) 34
TOTAL (all out, 116.3 overs) 428
FALL OF WKTS: 1-15, 2-41, 3-177, 4-287, 5-308, 6-311, 7-321, 8-364, 9-372.
BOWLING: Hutton 21-4-55-1; Wade 19-4-75-1; Procter 13-2-48-0 (6nb); Keogh 32.3-6-111-4; Crook 26-2-89-4 (1w); Cobb 5-0-23-0.
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE (2nd Innings):
R.I. Newton not out 102
B.M. Duckett c Sarfraz b Rahat 15
L.A. Procter lbw b Rahat 1
R.E. Levi b Shadab 9
A.M. Rossington c Shadab b Abbas 42
J.J. Cobb b Shadab 52
R.J. Keogh not out 8
EXTRAS (B-1, LB-3, W-5, NB-2) 11
TOTAL (for five wkts, 70 overs) 240
FALL OF WKTS: 1-35, 2-48, 3-57, 4-113, 5-207.
BOWLING (to-date): Mohammad Amir 11-3-24-0; Mohammad Abbas 12-1-52-1 (1w); Shadab Khan 25-5-71-2 (1nb); Asad Shafiq 2-0-5-0; Haris Sohail 4-0-15-0; Rahat Ali 9-2-38-2 (1nb); Fahim Ashraf 7-2-31-0.
Published in Dawn, May 7th, 2018
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