Brook ton rescues England after Pakistan cause early troubles

KARACHI: Harry Brook hardly looks like a player featuring in his maiden Test series. After scoring a century each in the first two Tests, the young right-hander smashed another ton — arguably his best in the series — to pull England out of trouble and give them a 50-run lead against Pakistan in the third and final match of the series here at the National Stadium on Sunday.

Brook came into bat with England reeling at 98-4 and trailing by 206 runs before going on to pummel the Pakistan bowlers for 111 runs.

He was ably supported by a gritty 64 by Ben Foakes before quickfire cameos by tailenders Mark Wood and Ollie Robinson helped England to a total of 354.

Pakistan were 21-0 by the close of the day’s play and the hosts are now tasked with giving England a target big enough for them to avoid their first whitewash at home.

After the close of play, Brook revealed he had set a goal of scoring two centuries during the tour.

“I said to one of my mates I’d like to get two before I got here, so it feels very nice to go one better,” said Brook

England were in no mood to drop the anchor after having lost opener Zak Crawley late on the first day. And it was evident they wanted to go for the kill when Crawley’s opening partner Ben Duckett and first drop Ollie Pope bludgeoned 50 runs in the first 12 overs.

The onslaught came to an end with a double strike by Pakistan slow left-armer Nauman Ali when he sharply spun one that crashed into Duckett’s pads to trap the left-hander leg-before for 26 off 33.

The next ball saw Nauman stun Joe Root with a delivery that spun enough from near-perfect length to find the right-hander’s outside edge and then the hands of Salman Ali Agha at slip.

In came Brook, and after a couple of quiet overs, he hoisted spinner Abrar Ahmed over long-on for a glorious six to announce his arrival.

The 23-year-old kept the attack going along with Pope, hitting two more boundaries before the latter fell to a magical leg-cutter by Abrar that spun and bounce to destruct the off-stump.

Pope departed only after finishing his half-century as well as a 53-ball partnership of 45 runs with Brook, who cleared long on for another six to end Abrar’s over.

Pope’s wicket did not change England’s approach and their skipper Ben Stokes matched Brook’s aggression as the duo went on to smash four boundaries before an instance of shambolic running between the wickets — as both found themselves on the same end — ran Stokes out, ending a 47-run collaboration.

Two decent partnerships involving Brook had put the Pakistan bowlers on the backfoot and forced them to bowl defensively. The arriving Foakes and Brook made sure they capitalised on it.

Brook brought up his fifty five overs later after punishing a short tracker by Abrar for four. Foakes opened his boundary account when he flicked debutant pacer Mohammad Wasim with brilliant wrist work.

Brook too then took on the right-armer, driving him straight down the ground and pounced on a full toss to smash it through the covers.

There was no relenting for the duo as Brook brought up his hundred with a boundary off Abrar to help England post 254-5 by tea.

It was finally over for the flamboyant right-hander four overs into the final session when a reversing Wasim delivery crashed into his pads right in front to end his 117-run knock with Foakes.

“Ben (Foakes) didn’t look like he was going to get out,” Brook said of the partnership. “We just knocked it around for as long as we could. We were just trying to build a partnership.”

That was all Pakistan could do with the reverse available for a short period and after Rehan Ahmed threw away his wicket, Foakes brought up his fifty.

It was then time for Wood to attack and he smashed four boundaries for his 41-ball 35, departing before Foakes fell for 64 off Nauman.

England kept charging right till the end as Robinson bludgeoned a 20-ball 29 — an innings studded with five boundaries.

With the pitch set to deteriorate further, Nauman believed that Pakistan had a decent chance of winning the Test.

“We still have a good chance because they have to play the fourth innings,” said Nauman. “If we give them a 200-250 target then we have a good chance because there will be turn and low bounce in the coming days.”

Scoreboard

PAKISTAN (1st Innings) 304 (Babar Azam 78, Salman Ali Agha 56; Jack Leach 4-140)

ENGLAND (1st innings, overnight 7-1):

Z. Crawley lbw b Abrar 0

B. Duckett lbw b Nauman 26

O. Pope b Abrar 51

J. Root c Salman b Nauman 0

H. Brook lbw b Wasim 111

B. Stokes run out 26

B. Foakes c Abdullah b Nauman 64

R. Ahmed c Saud b Nauman 1

M. Wood c Abdullah b Nauman 35