SOUTHAMPTON, England, (Reuters) – Pakistan claimed the wicket of opener Rory Burns for a duck yesterday to leave England seven for one in their first innings, but rain forced an early close to day four in the rain-hit second test at the Rose Bowl.
A little over an hour’s play was possible at the start of the day before rain forced the players from the field, and with more bad weather predicted for today, the match is meandering towards a tame draw.
England bowled out the tourists for 236, with top scorer Mohammad Rizwan (72) being the last Pakistani batsman to be dismissed, and then managed only five overs of their reply.
That was enough time for Burns to lose his wicket as he was caught at second slip by Asad Shafiq off the bowling of Shaheen Afridi in the bowler-friendly conditions.
It was another failure for the left-hander in the series after he managed scores of four and 10 in the first test.
Dom Sibley (2 not out) and Zak Crawley (5 not out) will continue the innings if play is possible on the fifth day.
Pakistan had resumed on 223 for nine, the first bit of action since just before 5pm on Friday afternoon, with Rizwan flashing his bat in an attempt to score quick runs.
He added 12 to his total before he was caught by Crawley at cover point trying to hit Stuart Broad (4-56) to the boundary.
Broad’s figures were the best in the innings, followed by James Anderson (3-60), who answered a number of his critics following questions over whether he should retire after a poor last test in Manchester.
England won that game by three wickets and lead the three-match series 1-0. The final test will start in Southampton on Friday.
