Substitute Theo Wylie let the ball burst through his hands at point and watched it run to the boundary. That was the second reprieve for Shan Masood inside the space of a few balls, and Pakistan's most productive batting session of the tour kept building.
Masood had already edged Josh Tongue to a vacant third slip, the fielding position emptied just a ball earlier when Ben Duckett was moved out of it. England's generosity was not finished. Wylie's drop at point handed Masood another life, and the former captain made it count, moving to an unbeaten 83 as Pakistan reached 184-3 at lunch on day three of the third and final test at Edgbaston.
The left-handed pair of Masood and young opener Azan Awais put the off-field chaos behind them. Awais made a composed 59 off 84 balls with 10 fours before he fell, and his stand with Masood was worth 125 runs, Pakistan's best partnership of the series. At the break, captain Babar Azam was 26 not out with five boundaries, and Pakistan still trailed England by 136 runs.
Pakistan resumed on 52-2 on another gloomy day in Birmingham, still needing 268 runs to avoid an innings defeat. England had posted 453 after bowling Pakistan out for 133 in two sessions on day one, and Ollie Robinson had struck twice before Pakistan had scored a single run in its second innings. That left Masood and Awais to repair the innings, and they grew in confidence against Gus Atkinson and an erring Tongue, who was punished for boundaries whenever he offered width.
Tongue, who conceded 60 runs in his nine overs, was unlucky not to have Masood twice before the half century arrived. The edge to third slip came first, finding the gap where Duckett had been standing. Then came Wylie's drop. Masood completed his fifty off 81 balls despite the escapes, and the partnership settled into something approaching comfort.
The introduction of Lawrence broke it. Awais feathered a leg side catch to Jordan Cox behind the wickets, and captain Joe Root was quick to signal the review after the onfield umpire had adjudged the batsman not out. TV replays suggested a spike before Cox grabbed a good reflex catch, and the decision was overturned. Awais departed for 59.
Babar and Masood continued at a brisk pace after that, adding 59 runs in less than an hour as Pakistan closed in on its first score of 200-plus in the series. Robinson finished the morning session with figures of 2-22, while Jofra Archer went wicketless from his 0-47.
The context around this test has been anything but calm. England had already sealed the three-match series with two big victories at Leeds and Lord's before Pakistan pushed the panic button. The selectors summoned back seven players and replaced head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed with white-ball coach Mike Hesson, also bringing in Ashley Noffke as bowling coach in place of Umar Gul.
That upheaval made the composure of Masood and Awais in the middle all the more notable. The pair soaked up the pressure of Robinson and Archer after the early double strike, and by lunch Pakistan had at least given themselves a platform. Robinson's early wickets had threatened to end the match inside three days; instead, the batting order that had collapsed for 133 on the opening day showed a resistance that had been missing all tour.
The morning's cricket was not without its errors, and most of them came from England. Tongue's wayward lines were punished whenever there was width, and the fielding lapses around Masood's innings were the kind of mistakes that had been rare from the home side in the first two tests. The vacant third slip position, the dropped catch at point, the review that needed replays to confirm a faint spike: England's control was looser than it had been at Leeds or Lord's.
Pakistan's session was built on the left-handed pair's judgment of what to leave and what to attack. Masood's unbeaten 83 came with the kind of measured aggression that had been absent in the first innings, and Babar's early boundaries suggested he was not about to let the momentum stall. At lunch, the deficit was down to 136, and Pakistan had a real chance of making England bat again.
The afternoon session will decide whether that resistance holds or fades. Pakistan has not scored 200 in an innings in this series yet, and the last two tests were over well before this stage. The partnership between Masood and Awais was the first sustained fightback of the tour, and the dropped catches that helped it along were the first signs of England's grip slipping.
According to Yahoo Sports.