Zack Crawley knocked his first Test century finishing the day on 171 as England posted 332/4 on the first day in Southampton. Meanwhile, they were in a spot of bother early on reeling at 127 for four. Young fast bowler Naseem Shah was shedding fire as he delivered a scorcher to Joe Root out.
The home side, who are leading the series 1-0 didn’t get a great start losing Rory Burns within the first five overs. Centurion Zack Crawley joined hands with Dominic Sibley to steady the ship. They added 50+ runs for the second wicket before Yasir Shah caught Sibley plumb in front.
Naseem Shah bowls a scorcher to get Joe Root out
England skipper Joe Root, who has been going through a rough patch, desperately wanted to make his presence count in the final encounter. However, Naseem Shah foxed the right-handed batsman to get him out after a decent start.
Root looked confident after putting a poor loose ball to the boundary. In response, Naseem produced a jaffa of a delivery. It just pitched around the off stump, angled in and left Root with extra bounce. He had to play at it and ended up getting a nick and Mohammad Rizwan does the rest diving to his right. Pakistan reduced England to 114 for three and sensed an opportunity to make a comeback.
Watch the video here:
A very good ball.
Scorecard/Clips: https://t.co/JVsNai1pz8 pic.twitter.com/6Av7Ik55oa
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) August 21, 2020
Soon after, Pakistan racked another wicket to have England under pressure at 127 for four. But since then, Zack Crawley and Jos Buttler looked in complete control of things to keep the bowlers at bay.
Both batsmen cut loose scoring free runs passing individual milestones. Both players looked a bit tired as stumps approached, but the partnership still managed to grow beyond 200 before the end of the day. Crawley ended at 171*, while Buttler will resume just 13 runs short of what would be his second Test century.
