Pakistan 74 (Swann 4-12, Finn 3-38) and 41 for 4 (Azhar 0*) trail England 446 (Trott 184, Broad 169, Amir 6-84) by 331 runs
England had already shifted themselves into a winning position after a world-record eighth-wicket stand between Jonathan Trott and Stuart Broad, but even in a summer of batting collapses the way they blew Pakistan away for 74 on the third day at Lord's took the breath away. For the third time in four Tests the visitors couldn't emerge from double figures as they subsided either side of tea, with Graeme Swann and Steven Finn sharing the last seven wickets for 28 runs, before they slumped to 41 for 4 in the follow on.
Having been through the debilitating experience of watching England haul themselves from hopelessness to supremacy in record style there was always the danger that Pakistan would succumb to the pressure. But having shown much more backbone with the bat at The Oval it was hoped they could replicate the same yet were skittled in 33 overs and the second innings promises little better. It was a depressing performance from Pakistan because some of the shots were plain awful, the worst being Imran Farhat's weak pull at the start of the second innings. A clear sign the fight had gone.
Credit, though, must go to the hostility of England's quicks and the continued guile of Swann as the four-man attack never took the pressure off Pakistan. In the follow on, Yasir Hameed was plumb lbw to Anderson as he played across the line then just to compound Pakistan's woes their last chance of making the fourth day a contest vanished as the light closed in. Salman Butt, who was getting annoyed by the chirp from England's close fielders, was lbw to Swann - an excellent decision from Tony Hill as the review proved it was pad just before bat - then, to what became the last ball of the day, Mohammad Yousuf top-edged a pull to deep square-leg. Pakistan's two best batsmen had gone twice in a session.Rarely can a Test have included periods of such dominance by the ball either side of an epic batting performance. Take out one stand and the batsmen have been walking wickets; but that partnership was the small matter of 332. As Trott and Broad extended their stay during most of the morning the ball barely did anything for the Pakistan bowlers, but when a new one was placed in the hands of Broad and Anderson it quickly became a major threat.Broad, fresh from his mighty 169, dispatched Hameed in familiar manner as the opener hung his bat outside off and sent a comfortable edge to second slip. Anderson then exploited Farhat's weakness against the moving ball when he drove loosely at an outswinger having watched the previous three deliveries zip past his outside edge.
The best set-up, though, was still to come as England executed their plan to Yousuf to perfection when Broad slotted a full delivery past his bat. It was almost identical to how he fell in the second innings at The Oval and England have always felt it was a way to trap Yousuf early since Anderson did the same at Cape Town in the 2003 World Cup.Briefly, Butt rallied as he tucked into a loose opening spell from Finn but Swann gave an immediate warning of the danger he would pose as he ripped two deliveries past Butt's edge in his opening over. With his first ball after tea Swann produced another unplayable offering which gripped and hit off stump. The batsman initially stood his ground thinking the wicketkeeper may have knocked off the bails, but his dismissal was swiftly confirmed.That brought Umar Akmal to the crease and he was immediately greeted by some words from Trott at silly point following their conversations during England's innings and Umar proceeding to launch his third ball over midwicket. But Swann was finding huge turn, much more than Saeed Ajmal extracted, and soon had Azhar Ali taken at short leg as the batsman lunged forward.
Meanwhile, Umar started complaining about problems picking up Finn's line from the Nursery End as the bowler's hand came from above the sightscreen. It clearly affected Umar's mindset when he was told just to get on with it by the umpires and it wasn't long before Finn, who improved with the change of ends, speared a yorker through his defences.Trott's timing and placement remained of the highest quality, particularly a couple of off-side strokes against Ajmal, and he was within sight of being the first man to score two double hundreds at Lord's until becoming last-man out. It will go down as one of the finest centuries made on this famous ground; Pakistan's entire line-up couldn't even get halfway towards matching it.
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