Hafeez misses ton but Pakistan forge ahead

(Reuters) – Pakistan built on a strong start  from openers Mohammad Hafeez and Taufeeq Umar to take a 96-run  first innings lead with three wickets in hand after the second  day of the opening test against England yesterday.

Mohammad Hafeez

Openers Hafeez (88) and Umar (58) shared a 114-run stand and  captain Misbah-ul-Haq struck a patient 52 as Pakistan reached  288 for seven after bowling England out for 192 on the first day  at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

England battled back with some important wickets but Adnan  Akmal, unbeaten on 24 at stumps, will hope to stretch the lead  with the tailenders when he returns today.

“Overall we are very happy,” Hafeez told Sky Sports. “We’re  happy with the effort of the batsmen because England’s seamers  really bowled well.

“We’re in a good position because the conditions at the  moment have a little bit of turn, as we saw when Graeme Swann  got some, so I think we’re in a good position and can dominate a  bit from here.

“The conditions are really tough to score runs in because  the outfield is not very fast.”

Resuming on 42 for no loss, the right-left combination of  Hafeez and Umar thrived on a placid track, helping themselves to  easy boundaries on offer.

Umar hit Chris Tremlett for two boundaries in the same over  on his way to a 13th half-century and Hafeez took a single off  the same bowler to score his seventh fifty.

Desperate for a breakthrough, England captain Andrew Strauss  brought Stuart Broad back into the attack and the change paid  off when the lanky bowler, from around the wicket, pegged back  Umar’s off-stump.

Broad returned to remove Azhar Ali (one), who poked outside  off-stump to depart caught behind.

Hafeez looked good for his fifth test century but paid the  price for playing a premeditated sweep off Swann to completely  miss the line. Even reviewing the leg before decision could not  save him and Hafeez departed after a measured 164-ball knock  that included 11 fours and a six.

Younus Khan (37) appeared to have settled in for a long stay  but another clever bowling change by Strauss sent him back.

With the former Pakistan skipper looking comfortable against  pace and spin, Strauss tossed the ball to occasional bowler  Jonathan Trott and the medium pacer trapped Younus leg before,  only his third test victim.

James Anderson, otherwise off-colour, accounted for Asad  Shafiq (16) but Misbah played with characteristic caution to  complete his 15th test fifty and found an able ally in Akmal.

Despite the deficit, Broad felt England had were back in  contention.

“We set a target today of going under three an over and  didn’t worry too much about the wickets because we knew if we  built the pressure that way, they would come,” he told Sky  Sports.

“I think we really earned those wickets late on in the day  today…more importantly on Thursday morning we’ve got to come  out and finish the tail off.”

Pakistan are hosting the three-match series in the Gulf due  to security concerns in their own country.