SOUTHAMPTON          -         Pakistan’s Shaheen Afridi needed just four balls to remove England’s Rory Burns for a duck on Sunday before bad weather again interrupted the second Test at Southampton. 

Only 10.2 overs were bowled on the fourth day in Southampton as more wet weather held up proceedings.  After the third day was washed out in its entirety, Pakistan resumed their first innings on 223-9 on the fourth morning. Mohammad Rizwan delivered a couple of crunching blows to take his score to 72, and the team score to 236, before Stuart Broad forced a leading edge which straight to an obliging Zak Crawley in the covers. 

Broad finished with figures of 4-56, the seventh consecutive Test innings in which he has claimed at least three wickets, while James Anderson returned figures of 3-60 to bounce back after struggling for rhythm in the first Test in Manchester. Under leaden skies, Shaheen Afridi opened the bowling for Pakistan, and was centimetres away from claiming a wicket first ball as an edge from Rory Burns fell just short of second slip. 

Three balls later though, Shaheen produced an even better delivery, swinging and seaming away from the initial off stump line, and this time Burns’ edge carried comfortably to slip. Dom Sibley’s first ball, delivered by Mohammad Abbas, bounced sharply off a length and hit the right-hander on the hip, causing discomfort for the England opener, but he and Crawley managed to stick it out against some testing bowling from Shaheen and Abbas. 

Only another five overs of England’s innings were bowled before the weather closed in and forced play to be suspended, and eventually abandoned. The final day of the Test will begin with England on 7/1 in their first innings, and barring something exceptional, the draw looks the most likely outcome.

Pakistan, 1-0 down in a three-match series after their three-wicket defeat in the first Test at Old Trafford last week, were also indebted to Abid Ali (60) and Babar Azam (47) for painstaking innings when the conditions were stacked against the batsmen. Victory in this match will see England secure their first series win over Pakistan since 2010. 

Scorecard

Shan Masood lbw b Anderson 1
Abid Ali c Burns b Curran 60
Azhar Ali c Burns b Anderson 20
Babar Azam c Buttler b Broad 47
Asad Shafiq c Sibley b Broad 5
Fawad Alam lbw b Woakes 0
M Rizwan c Crawley b Broad 72
Yasir Shah c Buttler b Anderson 5
Shaheen Afridi run out 0
Mohammad Abbas lbw b Broad 2
Naseeem Shah not out 1
EXTRAS: (b9, lb12, nb1, w1) 23
TOTAL: (all out, 91.2 overs) 236
FOW: 1-6, 2-78, 3-102, 4-117, 5-120, 6-158, 7-171, 8-176, 9-215, 10-236. 
BOWLING: Anderson 27-5-60-3 (1nb); Broad 27.2-9-56-4; Curran 18-3-44-1; Woakes 19-3-55-1 (1w). 
ENGLAND 1ST INNINGS:
RJ Burns c Shafiq b Shaheen Afridi 0
DP Sibley not out 2
Z Crawley not out 5
EXTRAS: (null) 0
TOTAL: (1 wkt, 5 overs) 7/1
BOWLING: Shaheen Shah Afridi 3-1-5-1, Mohammad Abbas 2-1-2-0. 
TOSS: Pakistan
UMPIRES: M Gough, R Kettleborough
TV UMPIRE: Richard Illingworth
MATCH REFEREE: Chris Broad