Pakistan clinch Test series 2-0

Sharjah - Misbah's men outplay England, jump to No. 2 in Test rankings

Beating Pakistan in the UAE is as difficult as snatching meat from a lion's mouth. England experienced it during their tour of 2012 when they lost the series 3-0. One would have expected Alastair Cook's side to have been better prepared this time. They did put up a better display no doubt but came up short again to lose the series 2-0 after going down by 127 runs in the third Test at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Thursday.
Needing 238 to win with eight wickets in hand on the last day, England required a Herculean effort from their overnight batsmen Cook and his deputy Joe Root. But with Pakistan's main weapon being spin it was obvious that Misbah was going to attack his opposition with his trio of spinners from the word go.
After Shoaib Malik claimed both Moeen Ali and Ian Bell on Wednesday, it was Yasir Shah and Zulfiqar Babar's turn to torment the English batsmen. Within the first half hour of play they had England all at sea and it was merely a matter of time as to when the match would get over, most debating that it would be by lunch while others said by tea.
Yasir, who missed the first Test in Abu Dhabi due to injury, struck in his first over - second of the day - trapping Root with a ball that kept low. Root failed to add to his overnight score of 6. James Taylor too departed to hand Zulfiqar Babar his 50th Test wicket. When that happened the writing was on the wall for England. Cook tried to salvage the situation but Jonny Bairstow and Samit Patel too were caught flat-footed in the crease falling LBW to Yasir and Babar respectively as England managed only 42 runs for the loss of four wickets in the first hour of play.
England clearly had their back to the wall now when Cook found an unlikely ally in Adil Rashid.
A similar performance was expected here and at one stage the way he and Cook were playing and getting runs with ease, Pakistan began to panic, and Misbah went back to his pace bowler Rahat Ali. It proved a good gamble as Rahat struck in his second over splattering Rashid's stumps to end their 49-run partnership and help Pakistan breathe a little easier.
Cook battled on getting to his 50 off 142 balls as England went to lunch at 120 for 7 with Broad on 10. They resumed and raised 30 runs for the eighth wicket when Yasir came back with a bang to bag Broad and Stokes' wicket while Malik scalped Cook to bring the curtain down on England.
Yasir was declared the Man of the Series for his 15 wickets from two Tests, while Mohammad Hafeez bagged the Man of the Match award for his sterling 151 in the first innings.
clareto@khaleejtimes.com

Scoreboard > Pakistan 1st innings 234 (Misbah-ul-Haq 71; J. Anderson 4-17) England 1st innings 306 (J.Taylor 76; Shoaib Malik 4-33, Yasir Shah 3-99) > Pakistan 2nd innings 355 (Mohammad Hafeez 151, Asad Shafiq 46; S. Broad 3-44) > England 2nd innings (overnigh 46-2) M Ali lbw b Malik 22 A. Cook st Ahmed b Malik 63 I. Bell b Malik 0 J. Root lbw b Shah 6 J. Taylor c Younis b Babar 2 J. Bairstow lbw b Shah 0 S. Patel lbw b Babar 0 Adil Rashid b Rahat 22 S. Broad c Malik b Shah 20 B. Stokes st Ahmed b Shah 12 J. Anderson not out 0 > Extras: (b7, nb1, w1) 9 > Total: (all out; 60.3 overs) 156 > Fall of wickets: 1-34 (Ali), 2-34 (Bell), 3-48 (Root), 4-57 (Taylor), 5-58 (Bairstow), 6-59 (Patel), 7-108 (Rashid), 8-138 (Broad), 9-150 (Cook) > Bowling: Rahat 5-1-23-1, Riaz 5-0-25-0 (1nb), Babar 18-5-31-2, Malik 15-4-26-3, Shah 17.3-2-44-4 > Result: Pakistan win by 127 runs > Toss: Pakistan > Umpires: Bruce Oxenford (AUS) and Chris Gaffaney (NZL) > TV umpire: Paul Reiffel (AUS) > Match referee: Andy Pycroft (ZIM)

• Sharjah