The series between England and Pakistan will come to a close this coming weekend as the third test gets underway on Friday. The two sides have put on an excellent show to this point, and England will simply be looking to avoid defeat to ensure that they are winners of the series.
Series Recap
The series to this point has been an entertaining affair, but Pakistan would have no doubt been left ruing the British weather following the second test, as they appeared to have England right where they wanted them. England were set a total of 236 to win the second test, but rain and bad light stopped play as the game was entering the crunch period.
By the time that play was ended, England had 110 runs and had lost four wickets. Mohammad Rizwan and Abid Ali were in excellent form for Pakistan with the bat, as they scored 72 and 60 runs respectively. That performance from Rizwan was enough to earn him the accolade of Player of the Match. Stuart Broad was in excellent form with the ball in his hands as he took four wickets, while James Anderson took three. With the bat, Zak Crawley was showing glimpses of very good form as he scored 53 from 99 balls. However, ultimately, the test was ended in a draw, which means that Pakistan will no longer be able to win the series outright.
The best that they can hope for is a draw, after they were beaten in the opening test. England won by three wickets in that opening test at Old Trafford, as Chris Woakes scored an impressive 84 runs in the second innings. Jos Buttler also scored 75 runs in that second innings. Stuart Broad and Ben Stokes ensured England were in a strong position going into bad as they took three and two wickets respectively.
The best that Pakistan can hope for now is a win in the final test to secure a draw in the series. Rizwan’s form in the recent test would have certainly been a silver lining for the visitors, as the batters was disappointing in the first test. He scored just nine runs in the first innings of the opening test, before getting 27 runs off 43 balls in the second innings. Pakistan certainly have the players to hurt England, and they will be hoping for good weather to give them the best chance of salvaging some pride.
England vs Pakistan Test History
England holds the narrow advantage from the history books, as they have won 25 of the previous tests. Pakistan have won on 21 occasions. That means that Pakistan have lost just over 30% of the test matches that they have played against England. There have also been 37 draws.
England vs Pakistan Third Test Prediction
Pakistan remain the 3.00 outsiders with BetXChange to claim victory in the final test, and it would be hard to bet against those odds. England will likely get the win that they need to bring a close to the series, but that will be weather dependant.
