Flintoff's fighting spirit keeps English hopes alive

Cricket Pakistan v England, second test: Andrew Flintoff's tireless spirit kept English hopes alive on a fourth day in Faisalabad to make all but the bravest bowlers wilt.

The England all-rounder could reflect only on unremarkable figures as Pakistan's second innings was pegged back to 183 for six - an overall lead of 199 - but when Michael Vaughan counted his men last night there was surely an extra slap on the back in appreciation of Flintoff's contribution.

It was he who took two wickets in two balls shortly after tea to boot the door ajar for a team whose time was running out to force the result they need to stand a chance of coming from one down in a three-match contest. Win, lose or draw today Flintoff could have done no more on the eve of Ian Botham's 50th birthday to prove that for his never-say-die qualities alone he is beginning to bear comparison with the great all-rounder.

Flintoff (three for 46) could have been forgiven for crying "Enough" when Inzamam-ul-Haq "Chinese-cut" him for four and Vaughan gave him the option of taking a breather; instead he asked for another over, in which he had Mohammad Yousuf edging on and then next ball knocked out Shahid Afridi's middle-stump with a perfectly-pitched reverse-swinging delivery. "I asked for one more over. The ball was 'reversing' a little bit, and I'd hit quite a nice rhythm from that end," he said.

Yousuf's dismissal ended a fourth-wicket stand of 56 and Afridi, the man who had laid waste to the England attack in his run-a-ball first-innings 92. "We saw from the way he played the other day Afridi can take a game away from you very quickly, so it's crucial to get him out cheaply if you can," said Flintoff.

Flintoff was reaping his and his team's reward for their endeavour as they strove for the breakthroughs on a wicket which was still very much favouring the batsmen. One man England could shift, though, was Pakistan captain Inzamam, whose brick-wall defiance put him on the verge by stumps of another half-century to go with the 23rd Test hundred he made in the first innings. The tourists eked out their first wicket of the day when Flintoff saw off Shoaib Malik, the opener driving uppishly to cover.

Otherwise, though, Vaughan ran through all his frontline options to no avail as Salman Butt (50) and number three Younis Khan booked in. Flintoff in particular was inventive as he tried to make things happen with changes of pace, hand action and line of attack - but on a surface like this the best hope for a wicket remained batsman error. When England did get their second break it came from an innocuous Matthew Hoggard loosener, Younis playing across a straight ball to go lbw.

They had a little luck too over the dismissal only four runs later of Butt, who would not have been on strike for another lbw verdict - won by Shaun Udal from a delivery which might well have gone on to miss leg - had umpire Darrell Hair not sent the left-hander back when he picked up a "single" from the previous ball only to be judged to have run straight up the middle of the wicket. Under the laws of the game, the course Butt took was enough for a "dead ball" signal.

Yousuf and Inzamam each had a scare before tea, the former mis-hitting a lofted drive at Udal just over mid-off and his captain struck in line with off stump as Flintoff appealed for an lbw decision which might have been successful. Inzamam continued to evade England - but after Flintoff's best there was a bonus wicket from his fellow fast bowler Steve Harmison who struck just before the close when Kamran Akmal followed old-ball swing to be caught behind.

Harmison had done his with the bat too at the other end of the day in a last-wicket stand with Udal which stole 47 runs to sneak the total up to 446 all out, after it had looked likely England would finish awkwardly adrift on first innings as leg spinner Afridi (four for 95) threatened to make short work of the tail. It was a passage of play which frustrated Pakistan and could end up being highly significant in a tight, see-saw match.

Scoreboard

Pakistan v England, in Faisalabad

Overnight: PAKISTAN 462 (Inzamam-ul-Haq 109, Shahid Afridi 92, Mohammad Yousuf 78); ENGLAND 391 for 7 (I R Bell 115, K P Pietersen 100, G O Jones 55).

England: First Innings:

A F Giles b Shahid Afridi 26

S D Udal not out 33

M J Hoggard b Shahid Afridi 2

S J Harmison run out 16

Extras b1 lb12 w1 nb22 pens 0 36

Total (132.3 overs) 446

Fall: 1-33, 2-39, 3-107, 4-261, 5-272, 6-327, 7-378, 8-395, 9-399.

Bowling: Shoaib Akhtar 27-4-93-2; Naved-ul-Hasan 20-2-63-2; Mohammad Sami 19-4-51-1; Shahid Afridi 30.3-3-95-4; Danish Kaneria 32-3-102-0; Shoaib Malik 4-0-29-0.

Pakistan: Second Innings:

Shoaib Malik c Bell b Flintoff 26

Salman Butt lbw b Udal 50

Younis Khan lbw b Hoggard 27

Mohammad Yousuf b Flintoff 20

Inzamam ul-Haq not out 41

Shahid Afridi b Flintoff 0

Kamran Akmal c G O Jones b Harmison 9

Naved ul-Hasan not out 0

Extras b4 lb4 nb2 pens 0 10

Total 6 wkts (66 overs) 183

Fall: 1-54, 2-104, 3-108, 4-164, 5-164, 6-183.

To Bat: Mohammad Sami, Shoaib Akhtar, Danish Kaneria.

Bowling: Hoggard 9-0-28-1; Flintoff 19-2-46-3; Harmison 14-2-41-1; Giles 13-2-35-0; Udal 11-2-25-1.