A battling ninth-wicket partnership between Adil Rashid and Mark Wood wasn’t enough for England to salvage a draw from the second Test in the UAE, Pakistan eventually running out 178–run winners.

Rashid and Wood came together with the score on 253-8 and added 55 in 176 deliveries; the second longest ninth-wicket stand for England in Test matches after Stuart Broad had also added 30.

However, Wood edged Zulfiqar Babar to second slip on 29, off 95 deliveries, and Rashid succumbed to Yasir Shah for 61, the Pakistan spin duo once again doing the majority of the damage. 

Resuming the day on 130-3, England faced a tough day of batting against Pakistan’s talented spin duo of Shah and Babar.

Sure enough it was the left-arm spin of Babar that produced the first breakthrough, that of one of England’s main hopes for surviving the day, Joe Root caught in the slips for 71.

That sparked a middle order collapse as England lost Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes either side of the lunch break.

Bairstow had looked composed for his 22 before leaving a gap in between bat and pad that leg spinner Shah exploited to bowl him through the gate.

An out-of-form Buttler then was unable to deal with a superb delivery from Shah, the ball drifting in before spinning away to take the edge of the right-hander’s bat, Younis Khan pouching his fourth catch of the innings.

Ben Stokes, another English player struggling for form with the bat, then played at one away from his body after the interval to hand Imran Khan his second wicket.

Broad (30) and Rashid then added 60 for the eighth wicket before man-of-the-match Wahab Riaz produced a fine yorker to bowl the Nottinghamshire left-hander.

That brought together the key partnership that looked as if it would take England to an unlikely draw and keep the series alive heading to Sharjah.

Wood and Rashid negotiated the tough conditions for nearly 29 overs, taking the team past 300 in the process as England’s number eight, nine and ten batted for 309 balls.

However, Wood and Rashid both fell in quick succession to give the hosts an unassailable 1-0 lead and captain Alastair Cook has pinpointed areas his side will have to improve before the third Test kicks off on Sunday.

"The morning of day three has cost us this game. To be that many at the end of the day cost us. In these conditions you can't afford to have those two or three hours,” he said.

“But the character we have shown today... we are disappointed not to get over the line.

"These are a fantastic bunch of players. The lower order showed a lot of character. I was half hoping the umpires would give us the light with nine overs to go to even it up from the first Test.

"We will dust ourselves off. It will be a great last Test."

 

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