Paul Collingwood insisted England had not given up hope of beating Pakistan despite ending the third day of the second Test on a near-exhausted pitch on 36 for two, still 261 runs from a distant and testing target. “We’ll still have belief,” the assistant coach said. “It’ll be a hell of a chase, but we’ve got to be realistic – it’s a tough ask.”
England’s pursuit started dismally, with Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley both falling within the first four overs. Their only real cause for optimism is the ease – at least once he had benefited from two dropped catches while still in single figures – with which Salman Agha scored 63 late-innings runs as Pakistan reached 221 in their second knock.
