Cricket: England close on Pakistan after twin tons in Multan

England scored quickly against Pakistan to end day three of the Multan Test just 64 runs behind, giving the visitors a chance of extracting victory from a match that seemed bound for a draw.

After Pakistan took the better part of two days to score 556, cricket betting sites had England at long odds to win their first away Test since January.

Centuries to Joe Root and Harry Brook have taken the tourists through to a healthy score of 3/492 with two days to play, however, leading BetOnline to shorten their odds of winning to just +160.

A draw is still the more favoured option at -175.44, but England’s ultra-aggressive approach to Test cricket under coach Brendon McCullum means the victory remains within reach.

Ben Duckett applied some pressure to the host side’s attack on day three, with the No.4 batsman plundering 84 runs from just 75 balls before he was trapped in front by Aamer Jamal.

Zak Crawley also fell early in the day, after making a brisk 78 runs from 85 balls.

But it was Root and Brook who scored the majority of the runs on Wednesday as the pair carried their bats to stumps on 176 and 141 respectively.

In the process, Root became England’s top runscorer in Test matches, surpassing Alastair Cook’s total of 12,472.

“We’re still about 60 runs in front,” Pakistan coach Jason Gillespie said after stumps on day three.

“We suspect England’s approach will be to bat and try to get a lead before having a crack at us. That seems to be their game plan.

“However, we can’t control how they play. We can only focus on our own performance.”

England’s Duckett confirmed as much about his side’s likely approach on day four.

“I would imagine we’ll probably try to bat for quite a lot of tomorrow,” he said.

“We’ve got to earn the right to do that and start well in the morning.

“Try to limit the damage, and hopefully get ourselves in a position where, after lunch, we can really push on and try to score as quick as we can.

“We have to hope that there’s going to be 10 more chances.

“The pitch isn’t doing loads, but you’ve seen a little bit of variable bounce and a fraction more spin today.

“It depends how quickly we score and how well we start in the morning, and then we will be doing absolutely everything to try and take 10 wickets.”

If England are to have any chance of qualifying for the World Test Championship next June, they will need to pull out all the stops to win over the next two days.

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