Pakistan completed their first ever whitewash of England Monday as they won the third and final Test of the three-match rubber by 71 runs here at the Dubai International Stadium. England were bowled out for 252 in 97.3 overs on the fourth day. They had a good start in their chase of 324. Poor fielding also gave England some hope as Pakistan floored four catches, two of Alastair Cook and one each of Andrew Strauss and Stuart Broad. England, resuming on day four at 36, lost two wickets for 89 runs by lunch and were looking comfortable playing the spinners. Things turned around in the second session when Ajmal dismissed Kevin Pietersen for 18 and then got Alastair Cook for 49.
Misbahul Haq then brought in Umar Gul from the pavilion end to claim the scalps of Ian Bell and Eoin Morgan. Matt Prior and Stuart Broad took England to tea with 172 for six on board but right after the break, Gul sent Broad and Swann back with score at 203 for 8. Prior with James Anderson delayed Pakistan’s march to win with a couple of boundaries. After Ajmal sent James Anderson (9), Rehman sent Monty Panesar trapping him LBW, Prior was left stranded at 49 not out. Overall Pakistan took 25 reviews and had success in four while a total of 44 LBWs were recorded in the entire series with 17 alone in the final Test. On the day, England skipper Andrew Strauss was the first to be dropped by wicket keeper Adnan Akmal for 26 off Umar Gul. However that drop did not prove costly as Strauss at the same score was trapped leg before by Abdur Rehman.
Cook, who was dropped for four runs by Taufeeq Umar on Sunday (on the third day), was dropped again when he was on 28 as Gul missed an easy catch at deep backward square off Rehman. Jonathan Trott played 64 balls and scored 18. He top edged a doosra from Ajmal to give Rehman a catch at deep backward square. Broad was dropped in an exceptionally difficult catch at short fine leg by Azhar Ali just before tea off Rehman. Overall, there have been 73 wickets by spinners.
Earlier, Pakistan earlier added just 22 runs to their overnight score of 2-222 when Younus was trapped in front by Stuart Broad (1-55) for 115. Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq (31) and Azhar Ali added 87 runs in a partnership that lasted almost 40 overs as they tested the patience of the likes of England spinners Monty Panesar (5-124) and Graeme Swann (3-101) who bowled over 95 overs between them. Panesar made the crucial breakthrough when he had Misbah out lbw, triggering a massive collapse that saw Pakistan lose seven wickets for 34 runs. Panesar dismissed Asad Shafiq (5) and Adnan Akmal (0) while Swann took the wickets of Abdur Rehman (1) and Saeed Ajmal (1). Swann then got the all-important wicket of Azhar Ali, who faced 442 deliveries at the crease in an innings that lasted almost nine hours. Panesar wrapped up the innings in his 57th over when he removed Umar Gul (four) lbw as England carried the momentum into their run chase.
Wow !
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