Players.bio is a large online platform sharing the best live coverage of your favourite sports: Football, Golf, Rugby, Cricket, F1, Boxing, NFL, NBA, plus the latest sports news, transfers & scores. Exclusive interviews, fresh photos and videos, breaking news. Stay tuned to know everything you wish about your favorite stars 24/7. Check our daily updates and make sure you don't miss anything about celebrities' lives.

Contacts

  • Owner: SNOWLAND s.r.o.
  • Registration certificate 06691200
  • 16200, Na okraji 381/41, Veleslavín, 162 00 Praha 6
  • Czech Republic

Shafique and Haq give Pakistan solid start after England's 657

Pakistan's openers got among the runs on a placid pitch Friday as they took the home team to 181 without loss in reply to England's mammoth 657 in the first Test in Rawalpindi.

Scorecard

At close on day two, Imam-ul-Haq (90*) and Abdullah Shafique (89*) were approaching hundreds when umpires called stumps with 17 overs remaining.

The home team still need 277 runs to avoid the follow-on.

The pitch was again unresponsive to bowlers as the England attack, led by James Anderson, toiled in the same manner as the home side.

Shafique was lucky to survive a confident caught behind appeal by Ollie Pope off a rising delivery. Although umpire Joel Wilson gave a soft signal for out, television official Marais Erasmus over-ruled it.

Haq, who scored a century in each innings on the same pitch in a Test against Australia in March, pushed spinner Jack Leach for two to complete 1 000 runs in his 17th Test.

Shafique, who also scored a hundred against Australia in the March test, cracked two boundaries to reach his fifth half-century in his eighth Test, highlighting his rapid progress.

Haq followed suit soon after, taking a single off Joe Root for his fifth half-century.

Earlier, resuming at 506-4, England added 151 runs in 125 minutes, with Harry Brook taking his overnight score of 101 to 153 - one of four centurions in the innings.

Skipper Ben Stokes (41), debutant Liam Livingstone (nine), and Brook were all dismissed by pacer Naseem Shah, who finished with 3-140.

Leg-spinner Zahid Mahmood conceded 235 for his four wickets - the most by a bowler on a Test debut.

Previously, Sri Lankan off-spinner Suraj Randiv conceded 222 against India in Colombo in 2010.

England's total is their highest against Pakistan in all Tests, improving on their 589-9 at

Read more on news24.com