London, Aug. 21: Pakistan beat England by four wickets in the third Test at the Oval on Saturday but not before some nervous moments as they lost three quick wickets in their pursuit of a modest winning target of 148.
The Pakistanis were earlier cruising at 124/3 after ending England’s second innings for 222 in the first over of the day. But in a spell that revived English hopes, Azhar Ali ran himself out for five, Mohammad Yousuf was yorked by James Anderson for 33 and Kamran Akmal was dismissed lbw for a duck without playing a shot.
With rain in the air and a capacity crowd cheering England on, Pakistan eventually survived the assault to win with more than a day to spare. After appearing down and out after heavy losses in the first two Tests, Pakistan now have a chance to square the four-match series at Lord’s next week after drawing 1-1 with Australia earlier in the season.
Graeme Swann, who took four wickets in Pakistan’s first innings, was again the mainstay of the attack when he was asked to bowl from the Vauxhall end after five overs of the new ball.
He bowled unchanged to take 3/50 from 18.4 overs.
Sensibly in view of an adverse weather forecast, Pakistan decided to attack from the start after Stuart Broad was dismissed for six in the opening over of the day.
Imran Farhat set the tone by slashing James Anderson’s second ball over the slips for four.
Scores: England 233 & 222 (Cook 110, Trott 36; Amir 5/52, Ajmal 4/71) lost to Pakistan 308 & 148/6 (Butt 48, Yousuf 33, Farhat 33; Swann 3/50)