Shannon Gabriel's late strikes put West Indies in control of Southampton Test

The revival of West Indies pace bowling continues apace as the first post-Covid Test match approaches a tantalising final day.

Shannon Gabriel took two wickets in the final hour of Day Four to help shift the balance of power back towards the Caribbean side against England.

With two second-innings wickets remaining, the home side will start the final day on Sunday with a lead of 170.

Their lead might have been far healthier were it not for a fine comeback from the tourists late in the day at the Ageas Bowl, as they took five wickets in the last session.

England will start the day with Jofra Archer and Mark Wood at the wicket, with just James Anderson still to bat.

For all their batting problems, England might have found a solution to a long-standing issue on Saturday. Namely, who represents the future at No 3 in their line up.

Joe Root will return to captain the side in the next Test, after missing this one to attend the birth of his second child, and is sure to return to his preferred position at No 4.

That has meant this match has been an audition between Joe Denly and Zak Crawley to fill the role above him.

England's Ollie Pope is bowled by West Indies' Shannon Gabriel. AFP

The 22-year-old Crawley stole the advantage as he made a fine 76 to help erase the first innings deficit of 114.

While Denly got out meekly, chipping up a catch from the off-spin of Roston Chase, Crawley was embellishing the good first impressions he had made last winter.

Crawley had made his first half-century for England in the last Test of the series win in South Africa, then made a hundred in the last warm up match in Sri Lanka before cricket went into hibernation due to coronavirus.

The platform that Crawley and Dom Sibley – who scored 50 at the top of the order – made was in danger of being squandered by five wickets in the evening session, though.

For the third successive innings in the match, one captain dismissed the other, as Jason Holder again accounted for Ben Stokes, who made 46.

Alzarri Joseph then picked up a quickfire double, with a smart catch off his own bowling to end Crawley’s vigil, and then adding to Jos Buttler’s ongoing problems by cleaning bowling him.

Buttler, too, might be under pressure for his place. He has passed 50 just once in his past 22 Test innings, and Ben Foakes – his potential replacement with the gloves – is part of England’s bio-secure bubble in Southampton.

Then it was left to Gabriel to bolster the West Indies advantage. The barrel-chested quick bowled Dom Bess and Ollie Pope in the same over, as England were reduced to 284 for eight by the close.

Zakat definitions

Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.

Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.

Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.

Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.

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The Voice of Hind Rajab

Starring: Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees

Director: Kaouther Ben Hania

Rating: 4/5

PAKISTAN SQUAD

Abid Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Shan Masood, Azhar Ali (test captain), Babar Azam (T20 captain), Asad Shafiq, Fawad Alam, Haider Ali, Iftikhar Ahmad, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Faheem Ashraf, Haris Rauf, Imran Khan, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Sohail Khan, Usman Shinwari, Wahab Riaz, Imad Wasim, Kashif Bhatti, Shadab Khan and Yasir Shah.

Key facilities

Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
Premier League-standard football pitch
400m Olympic running track
NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
600-seat auditorium
Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
Specialist robotics and science laboratories
AR and VR-enabled learning centres
Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills

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Date started: 2013

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Based: Muscat, Oman

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Tonight's Chat on The National

Tonight's Chat is a series of online conversations on The National. The series features a diverse range of celebrities, politicians and business leaders from around the Arab world.

Tonight’s Chat host Ricardo Karam is a renowned author and broadcaster with a decades-long career in TV. He has previously interviewed Bill Gates, Carlos Ghosn, Andre Agassi and the late Zaha Hadid, among others. Karam is also the founder of Takreem.

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match info

Athletic Bilbao 1 (Muniain 37')

Atletico Madrid 1 (Costa 39')

Man of the match Iker Muniain (Athletic Bilbao)

Pharaoh's curse

British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.