MULTAN, 15 November 2005 — Just when Pakistan looked like making a comeback in the first Test against England here yesterday stand-in skipper Marcus Trescothick brought out a brilliant catch to dismiss Younis Khan in the penultimate over of the third day.
At close on the third day the home team had collected 125 for two but were still 19 runs in arrears on the aggregate, after conceding a first innings lead of 144 runs. Salman Butt was batting at 53 while Mohammad Sami had yet to open his account.
Scores: England 418 all out;Pakistan 274 and 125 for 2.
Butt, who was the top scorer with 74 in the first innings, scored his second half-century of the match to lead the Pakistan fightback.
The left-handed Butt finished the day at 53 not out and added precious 93 runs for the second wicket with vice-captain Younis Khan from 175 balls before Andrew Flintoff cut short the partnership,having Younis caught at slip when the Pakistan total was 124.
Night watchman Mohammad Sami had yet to score when the umpires called off play nine overs short due to poor light.
On the face of it, England still have a very good chance of winning this Test match and taking the all important lead, the glorious uncertainties of cricket notwhitstanding.
But Pakistan showed vast improvement yesterday compared to their performance on the first two days, not only in the field but also the positive approach they adopted. Their chances of turning the match their way are very slim but if their remaining batsmen decide to put their best foot forward and their heads down today they can hope to settle for a draw.
Earlier in the day. Trescothick played a splendid innings of 193, his second highest in Test cricket, to help his team post 418 runs before being all out.
England took the lead after resuming on the overnight score of 253 for three.
They stretched their total to 418 before being bowled out one hour afterlunch despite the regular fall of wickets with quick bowler Shabbir Ahmed taking four for 54. Ahmed took three wickets in 24 balls for eight runs after lunch.
His spell included Trescothick’s wicket, caught behind by Kamran Akmal after the opener had batted for 472 minutes and 305 balls just failing to score the second double hundred of his career.
Trescothick added 58 runs to his overnight total and became the second highest scorer for England in Pakistan after Ted Dexter’s 205 in 1961 at Karachi.
Ahmed also bowled Geraint Jones for 22 with a beautiful indipper and than had Ashley Giles caught by Hasan Raza for 16 to end the innings.
Fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar helped clean up the tail by trapping Shaun Udal leg before for a duck in his debut test.
He also had nightwatchman Matthew Hoggard caught behind and Andrew Flintoff caught by Shoaib Malik at mid-wicket for 45 before lunch to finish with three for 99. Butt and Younis faced few problems on a pitch after the loss of Malik in the seventh over.
