Pakistan vs England: Azhar Ali finishes unbeaten at 141, team all-out for 273

Pakistan vs England: Live blog updates for 3rd Test, day 3

By Web Desk
August 23, 2020

Live blog updates for day 3 of the third and final Test between Pakistan and England at The Ageas Bowl in Southampton appear in this thread. Timestamps are in PST.


273 all-out

266-9 Score update

213-6 Rizwan chases a ball outside leg and nicks it back to Jos Buttler. He departs having contributed a well-made 53.

209-5 Azhar Ali completes his 17th Test hundred in style with a four off Dom Bess.

200-5 Mohammad Rizwan comes down the track, slams Dom Bess off for a six over mid-off, brings up his second straight half-century of the series and team's 200 for the innings.

158-5 The final session of the day is under way. Can Azhar Ali (82) score a big one and secure his job for at least another series? 

158-5 Tea taken. Azhar at 82, Rizwan at 22.

118-5 Azhar Ali has reached an innings and a career milestone each. He's surpassed 6,000 Test runs and has a battling 50 here.

105-5 The hundred is up while captain Azhar Ali, as awkwardly as he has survived is at 44 and inching closer to his 50. Mohammad Rizwan is by his side.

75-5 Pakistan have lost half their wickets now. After doing the hard work and seeing off the pacers, Fawad Alam falls to off-spinner Dom Bess, nicking one back to keeper Jos Buttler. He managed 21 off 74 balls. He'll get another chance tomorrow or the day after.

56-4 Tom Moody is Team Fawad Alam

41-4 Meanwhile, if you thought Fawad's stance was weird, look at this:

41-4 Another rain break.

41-4 Michael Holding says it's pretty much impossible for Fawad Alam to score a lot of runs, or a lot of runs on the off side, with his technique. Let's see if the purist wins or the nonconformist.


32-4 Play resumes. Fawad Alam blocks an inswinging Anderson delivery. Phew! Meanwhile, his stance is again being scrutinised by the commentary panel. He's off the mark BTW and he's blocked everything with ease so far. No more jitters. At least not just yet.


SOCIAL This Jamshed guy is the proverbial 'bara larka' in Pakistani street cricket slang.


SOCIAL Meanwhile, Asad Shafiq is trending on Twitter and not for good reasons obviously. 


30-4 Next man in, whenever this rain break is over, will be Fawad Alam. Poor chap. He can't catch a break.


30-4 Asad Shafiq becomes James Anderson's fourth victim before rain interrupts play. Anderson now has 597 wickets. He could reach that milestone today and even better career-best figures of 7-42. Anil Kumble's 10-for is also doable. #JustSaying. 


SOCIAL Not if Pakistani fans get their wish:


SOCIAL Will this be James Anderson's big day?


2:30pm: It's pretty rare that a team hasn't even started their first innings and already needs a miracle to avoid defeat. That's the situation Pakistan were in last night and three quick wickets later it became clear why this was so. 

Situation today: Down three wickets, two of the most out-of-form batsmen up against three of the deadliest pacers in the game. Take out your prayer mats, beg the heavens in more ways than one, and send positive vibes for poor chaps Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq.

Comments