England and Pakistan played out a draw, as expected, in the second Test at the Ageas Bowl as Zak Crawley marked his return to the side with a half-century.
Play did not begin until the afternoon session as an overnight deluge left the outfield soggy, leaving only 38.1 overs to play out before a forgettable week in Southampton was consigned to the history books.
England finished on 110-4 before the inevitable outcome was agreed, with Crawley helping himself to 53. They were low-intensity runs but, having been left out of the past two Tests to accommodate an extra bowler, the 22-year-old will have enjoyed his time in the middle as well as the chance to remind the selectors of his value.
The teams will spend the next three days locked down at the venue before the series decider gets under way on Friday with England 1-0 up.
Dom Sibley made 32 before being strangled down leg in familiar fashion, with Mohammad Abbas taking two wickets and Yasir Shah the last scalp of the match.
Just 96.2 overs were possible across the first four days, with progress running to a standstill over the weekend and the willingness of umpires Richard Kettleborough and Michael Gough to get the game going drawing plenty of scrutiny.
The downpour left them no choice about deferring the scheduled 11am start this time, with the ground saturated. There was another light shower during the first pitch inspection of the day and another four were made under increasingly bright skies before a decision was made to begin almost 24 hours after the teams had last been in the middle.
Pakistan had been all over England at that point, Shaheen Afridi seeing off Rory Burns for a duck before he and Abbas exploited the perfect swing bowling conditions to threaten Sibley and Crawley with every ball of a short five-over burst.
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable
Amitav Ghosh, University of Chicago Press
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League quarter-final, second leg (first-leg score):
Manchester City (0) v Tottenham Hotspur (1), Wednesday, 11pm UAE
Match is on BeIN Sports
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
THE SIXTH SENSE
Starring: Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Hayley Joel Osment
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Rating: 5/5
KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN MARITIME DISPUTE
2000: Israel withdraws from Lebanon after nearly 30 years without an officially demarcated border. The UN establishes the Blue Line to act as the frontier.
2007: Lebanon and Cyprus define their respective exclusive economic zones to facilitate oil and gas exploration. Israel uses this to define its EEZ with Cyprus
2011: Lebanon disputes Israeli-proposed line and submits documents to UN showing different EEZ. Cyprus offers to mediate without much progress.
2018: Lebanon signs first offshore oil and gas licencing deal with consortium of France’s Total, Italy’s Eni and Russia’s Novatek.
2018-2019: US seeks to mediate between Israel and Lebanon to prevent clashes over oil and gas resources.
UAE squad
Esha Oza (captain), Al Maseera Jahangir, Emily Thomas, Heena Hotchandani, Indhuja Nandakumar, Katie Thompson, Lavanya Keny, Mehak Thakur, Michelle Botha, Rinitha Rajith, Samaira Dharnidharka, Siya Gokhale, Sashikala Silva, Suraksha Kotte, Theertha Satish (wicketkeeper) Udeni Kuruppuarachchige, Vaishnave Mahesh.
UAE tour of Zimbabwe
All matches in Bulawayo
Friday, Sept 26 – First ODI
Sunday, Sept 28 – Second ODI
Tuesday, Sept 30 – Third ODI
Thursday, Oct 2 – Fourth ODI
Sunday, Oct 5 – First T20I
Monday, Oct 6 – Second T20I
