Dubai Victory for England 288 runs Away

ENGLAND set to chase 324 on the third day of the third Test had scored 36 without loss in reply to Pakistan's second innings 365 all out at the Dubai Sportscity International Cricket Stadium Ground in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday. At stumps were openers Andrew Strauss 19 and Alastair Cook 15 in the middle still trailing behind 288 . The highlight of the day were the two centuries knock one each by Younis Khan and Azhar Ali that had led Pakistan to score 365 in its second innings. The two batsmen in partnership had produced 216 runs for the third wicket hitting two sixes and 22 boundaries altogether. It turned out t be yet another LBW (leg before wicket) day on day three and five were the victim, mostly to Panesar, against whoe spin Pakistani batting line up faltered with te exception of Younis, Azhar and to some extent Misbah. The remaining five could score just 11 between them.Earlier, Younis Khan and Azhar Ali resumed at the overnight total of 222 to add 4 more to the total in first two overs. James Anderson bowled the first and Stuart Broad the second, and it was the 200 of the partnership when Younis finally departed at the total of 244, trapped leg before by Broad for a superb 127 including a six and 12 boundaries. Skipper Misbah ul Haq joined Azhar Ali and their partnership of 87 had taken the total past 300 mark when England met with another success at 331, Monty Panesar trapping Misbah leg before for 31. From there on, the wickets fell one after the other and Azhar Ali being the lone star in between with his career best 157. Asad Shafiq departed at 339, leg before to Panesar for 5, Adnan Akmal at 345 for a duck, another Panesar victim. Graeme Swann spun Abdur Rehman at 346 fr 1 and Saeed Ajmal at 350 also for 1, both at the hands of James Anderson. Azhar Ali departed at 363, third wicket for Swann, caught Alastair Cook for 157, including a six and 10 boundaries. His second Test hundred. Umar Gul was the last man out, another leg before victim and the fifth for Panesar for 4 and Pakistan were all out at 365. Aizaz Cheema remained not out yet to open his account. England was set to score 324. Mudhsuden Singh (Monty) Panesar returned with the figures of five for 124, his second best in five day game, followed by Graeme Swann three for 101 while James Anderson and Stuart Broad had one each for 51 and 55. Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook started the chase against Umar Gul and Aizaz Cheema. Misbah opted with the change right away and Mohammad Hafeez was introduced from the other end. Hafeez was taken off right away and Abdur Rehman was brought in and then it were the spinners from both the end. English openers held on firm at the wicket and the only opportunity for a breakthrough came when Hafeez had a leg before appeal reviewed against Strauss, which was turned down. Saeed Ajmal was also given a shot towards the end of the day but the batsmen had their heads down and played out calmly as they didn't want to take any chance, still 288 runs in the aggregate. The expat crowd waited for the some last moment magic but the two openers stuck together for 36 runs. If Pakistan managed to break the partnership early on fourth morning, England would be in trouble. Though at the moment both the batsmen appeared to be settling down.