SOUTHAMPTON: Zak Crawley neared his maiden Test hundred as England reached 184/4 at Tea against Pakistan on Day 1 of the third and final Test here on Friday.
Top-order batsman Crawley, 22, was batting on 97 from 165 balls with wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler for company on 24. For Pakistan, senior leg-spinner Yasir Shah snared two wickets.
Electing to bat, the hosts lost opener Rory Burns (6) early as the southpaw nicked a Shaheen Shah Afridi delivery to Shan Masood at third slip.
Dom Sibley (22) and Crawley looked good for their 61-run first wicket partnership before Shah trapped the former in front.
Skipper Joe Root and Crawley then looked steady as Pakistan bowlers tried to make further inroads as the pair shared a 41-run stand before Root was undone by a beautiful Naseem Shah delivery that took the outside edge of Root's bat and flew to keeper Mohammad Rizwan.
Ollie Pope was then cleaned up by Shah for just three to bring Buttler to the crease. Crawley looked in a league of his own at the other end as the tall right-handed played some exquisite shots on the off side and also looked rock solid defensively.
Buttler negotiated Shah well as the duo looked to stem the rot. IANS
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