England within 50 of Pakistan after Brook ton in 3rd test
KARACHI: Harry Brook marked England’s historic test tour of Pakistan with his third successive century and led the visitors to 254-5 at tea on the second day of the third and final test on Sunday.
The 23-year-old Yorkshireman smashed a brilliant unbeaten 108 off 141 balls to leave England trailing by 50 runs on a wicket with variable bounce and offering slow turns to spinners.
Brook followed his aggressive centuries at Rawalpindi and Multan with a backfoot-driven boundary through covers against spinner Abrar Ahmed to raise his hundred off 133 balls just before the tea break.
Ben Foakes, playing his first test of the series, combined well with Brook in an unbroken 109-run stand as both batters blunted the twin spin threat of Abrar and Nauman Ali after lunch.
Foakes was batting on a confident 42 after successfully overturning on-field umpire Joel Wilson’s decision when he was ruled out caught close to the wicket on 9.
Captain Ben Stokes (26) fell to a sloppy run-out that left England at 145-5 in the second session before Brook and Foakes shared a century stand and brought the visitors within sight of Pakistan’s first-innings total of 304.
Stokes and Brook both ended up at the striker's end when Stokes called for an unnecessary third run after Brook drove through midwicket.
Earlier, England’s top order slipped against spinners on a slow-turning wicket and reached 140-4 at lunch after resuming from an overnight 7-1.
Left-arm spinner Nauman, one of the four changes Pakistan made for the dead rubber, grabbed the wickets of Ben Duckett and Joe Root off successive deliveries and Abrar had Ollie Pope (51) clean bowled soon after he completed his half-century.
Brook survived an lbw television referral against Abrar early in his fluent knock but dominated the legspinner by smashing three sixes against him.
England spinners Jack Leach and 18-year-old test debutant Rehan Ahmed picked up six wickets between them to dismiss Pakistan for 304.
Pope and Duckett made a fluent start against seamer Mohammad Wasim after England resumed on 7-1. Debutant Wasim, 21, was taken out of the attack after conceding 19 runs off his first two overs allowing Pakistan spinners to seize control.
Duckett hit Abrar for a straight six and took the total to 58 before Nauman had the lefthander trapped lbw for 26. Joe Root then fell the first ball with Agha Salman grabbing a clean low catch at slip.
Pope completed his half-century off 63 balls with a boundary over cover point against Nauman but was undone by Abrar’s sharp delivery that spun enough to hit the top of the off stump.
Abrar had grabbed an 11-wicket haul in his debut test at Multan before England recorded a stunning 26-run win inside four days. England won the first test at Rawalpindi by 74 runs in dimming light on the last day.