LONDON – Pakistan s bowlers were made to work hard for their wickets onthe penultimate day of their tour match against Northamptonshire – theirlast warm-up fixture before taking on Ireland in a historic Test match atMalahide.
Heading into the final day, Northamptonshire lead the tourists by 71 runswith five second-innings wickets in hand.
The tourists started the day on 357/7 and progressed to 428 all out, withAsad Shafiq scoring 186*. Given the relative inexperience of the batsmen inPakistan s squad, these were welcome runs for one of their more experiencedplayers. Shafiq hit a pivotal century at The Oval on Pakistan s last tourof England in 2016, which helped set the platform for a series-levellingvictory, and he showed a liking for English conditions once again, adding51 runs to his overnight score.
He eventually ran out of partners as Steven Crook (4/89) saw off MohammadAmir and Mohammad Abbas before the off-spinner Rob Keogh (4/111) dismissedlast man Rahat Ali, giving Pakistan a first-innings lead of 169.
Northamptonshire s openers put on 35 before Ben Duckett (15), who playedthe most recent of his four Test matches in 2016, was caught behind bySarfraz Ahmed off the bowling of Rahat, who then trapped Luke Procter lbwfor 1 with the score on 48.
When the leg-spinner Shadab Khan clean bowled Richard Levi soon after,Northants were on the ropes, but opener Rob Newton (102*) and AdamRossington (42), who hit 90 in the first innings, launched a spiritedfightback.
They shared 56 for the fourth wicket and when Rossington offered a catch toShadab, giving Abbas his first wicket, Newton found a willing partner inJosh Cobb, who played aggressively on his way to a 74-ball 52.
Newton was happy to play second fiddle to Cobb, patient accumulating hisruns and going through to a 13th first-class century which included 11fours.
Shadab, who is Pakistan s first-choice spinner on this tour in the absenceof the injured Yasir Shah, picked up his second wicket of the innings andhis eighth of the match when he bowled Cobb 12 overs before stumps. ButNewton and Keogh (8*) held firm to frustrate Pakistan and finish the day on240/5.