England lose late wickets
Pakistan had England on the ropes at the end of day two in the the second Test in Faisalabad on Thursday despite a career-best 5-75 by left-arm spinner Ashley Giles.
At stumps, England were 110-3 with Graham Thorpe on two and nightwatchman Ian Salisbury on one, leaving the tourists 206 runs behind.
In the fading light England lost the crucial wickets of Michael Atherton and captain Nasser Hussain on a track which has started to turn and deceive with uneven bounce.
Hussain looked stunned after West Indian umpire Steve Bucknor gave him out leg before off Saqlain Mushtaq for 23 when television replays showed the ball touched the foot of his bat before it hit his pads.
It was the second time on the tour that Hussain has lingered at the wicket following a leg before decision.
But this time he was careful not to open his mouth after narrowly escaping punishment for dissent following the one-dayer at Rawalpindi.
Earlier, Pakistan's quicks Wasim Akram and Abdur Razzak threw everything at England's opening combination of Atherton and Marcus Trescothick, but they managed a stand of 49 before Trescothick fell to debutant spinner Danish Kaneria.
Kaneria, 19, forced Trescothick forward to a googly and had him stumped for 30 by Moin Khan off his 14th delivery in Test cricket, having been belted for six in his first over.
The young man kissed the pitch in celebration as his teammates rushed to congratulate him.
Atherton and Hussain batted cautiously to take England past 100, although their defend-at-all-costs tactics were not what the 15,000-strong crowd had come to see.
Then Atherton, having compiled 32, prodded forward once too often and Yousaf Youhanna took a sharp one-handed chance at silly point off spinner Mushtaq, Pakistan's hero in the drawn first Test at Lahore.
Ashley Giles' left-arm spin did the damage for England.
The 27-year-old from Warwickshire bagged his first five-wicket haul in his third Test and helped the tourists capture four wickets in the morning session for just 55 runs.
But he could not stop Pakistan's tail wagging as Mushtaq, batting at number nine, stubbornly knocked up 34 and added 33 runs for the last wicket with Kaneria.
Resuming at 243-5, Pakistan received three telling blows when they lost Youhanna, Khan and Akram in quick succession.
England took the second new ball as soon as it was due and Darren Gough had Youhanna caught at deep fine leg by Thorpe off a miscued hook for 77 wity the total at 271.
Youhanna hit eight boundaries during his 275-minute stay at the crease.
Gough, who took his tally of wickets to 175 in his 45th Test, finished with 3-79.
Captain Khan fell in the next over, failing to negotiate a sharp turner from Giles to be caught in the slip by Hussain for 65.
Khan's innings lasted 185 minutes and was laced with six fours and two towering sixes.
Akram, playing his 100th Test, was all at sea against Giles before being stumped by Alec Stewart for one as he tried to dance down the track.
Scoreboard
Pakistan (Ist innings): (overnight 243-5)
S.Anwar c Thorpe b Giles 53
S.Afridi c Thorpe b Gough 10
S.Elahi c Atherton b Giles 41
I.Haq b Giles 0
Y.Youhanna c Thorpe b Gough 77
A.Razzak b White 9
M.Khan c Hussain b Giles 65
W.Akram st Stewart b Giles 1
S.Mushtaq c Trescothick b Gough 34
A.Khan c Thorpe b White 2
D.Kaneria not out 8
Extras: (b1, lb12, nb3) 16
Total: (all out) 316
Fall of wickets: 1-33, 2-96, 3-96, 4-130, 5-151, 6-271, 7-271, 8-276, 9-283, 10-316.
Bowling: Darren Gough 23.1-2-79-3, Andrew Caddick 15-3-49-0, Craig White 25-6-71-2, Ashley Giles 35-13-75-5, Ian Salisbury 10-0-29-0.
Overs: 108.1
England (Ist innings):
M.Atherton c Youhanna b Saqlain 32
M.Trescothick st Moin b Kaneria 30
N.Hussain lbw b Saqlain 23
I.Salisbury not out 1
G.Thorpe not out 2
To bat: A.Stewart, G.Hick, C.White, A.Giles, A.Caddick and D.Gough.
Extras: (lb3, nb 19) 22
Total: (for 3 wickets) 110
Fall of wickets: 1-49, 2-105, 3-106
Bowling: Wasim Akram 10-2-30-0, Abdur Razzak 7-0-28-0, Danish Kaneria 12-5-29-1, Saqlain Mushtaq 10-3-16-2, Arshad Khan 5-3-4-0
Overs: 44.
Mail Cricket Editor
