Crawley double ton leads England's total domination

23 Aug 2020 Dave Middleton

Match Report

23 Aug 2020 Dave Middleton

Zak Crawley, Jos Buttler and James Anderson combine to make it one-way traffic leaving Pakistan plenty of work to do to stay in the Test

The third Test between England and Pakistan will be live streamed in Australia on cricket.com.au and the CA Live app by signing up for a free Cricket ID. The match will also be broadcast via Fox Cricket on Foxtel and Kayo

Zak Crawley turned his maiden Test century in a mammoth double ton in a record partnership with Jos Buttler while James Anderson took three quick wickets as England dominated day two of the third and final Test against Pakistan.

Crawley, who reached his maiden Test century on the opening day, added another 96 runs to reach 267 before he was stumped, while Buttler made 152 as the pair put on 359 for the fifth wicket.

That set a new England record to better the 254 made by Tony Grieg and Keith Fletcher for the fifth wicket against India in 1973.

His double-ton came with an edge for four through the slips off Naseem Shah after 331 deliveries, and at 22 years and 201 days it put him behind only Len Hutton and David Gower on the list of England's youngest double-centurions.

Crawley's maiden Test ton sees England surge ahead

His knock is England's 10th highest all-time score, and the first entry to that list since Alastair Cook's 294 against India nine years ago.

"Scoring a double hundred for England was beyond my dreams. It's a very good day," said Crawley, who also became the seventh England batsman to turn a maiden test hundred into a double ton.

"It's humbling to be on the list of England's top scorers.

"I don't see myself anywhere near their calibre, hopefully I can build on this."

Crawley's knock included 34 fours and one six – an audacious inside-out drive over extra cover off the leg-spin of Yasir Shah – and he was congratulated by every one of Pakistan's players as he left the field.

Naseem dream: Root undone by 'absolute beauty'

Asad Shafiq eventually claimed his wicket as Crawley, looking to further punish the bowling, ran past a delivery and was stumped down the leg side by Mohammad Rizwan, who was again excellent behind the stumps.

Buttler survived a scare on 99 when he was given out caught behind, but a review showed the bat had hit only pad.

He went on to post his second Test century, and his first as the side's gloveman, having played as a specialist batsman when he hit 106 against India in 2018.

England declared on 8-583 – their highest total in four years – before Anderson continued his charge towards 600 Test wickets with three quick scalps in under 11 overs.

Anderson first removed Shan Masood – who had already overturned a leg-before decision against Stuart Broad, but had no such luck reviewing his dismissal by Anderson –while Abid Ali edged to Dom Sibley at third slip in the fifth over.

Six overs later Anderson had Pakistan's talisman Babar Azam for just 11 runs when he too was struck on the pads, bringing the day to a close and leaving Pakistan at 3-24 and trailing by 559 runs.

Anderson needs four more scalps in the next three days of England's final Test of their home summer to become the first pace bowler to reach 600 Test wickets.

England XI: Rory Burns, Dom Sibley, Zak Crawley, Joe Root (c), Ollie Pope, Jos Buttler (wk), Chris Woakes, Dom Bess, Jofra Archer, Stuart Broad, James Anderson

Pakistan XI: Shan Masood, Abid Ali, Azhar Ali (c), Babar Azam, Asad Shafiq, Fawad Alam, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Yasir Shah, Mohammad Abbas, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah