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Masood and Azhar score confidence-boosting half-centuries
- Updated: July 29, 2016
Worcestershire 30 for 0 trail Pakistanis 261 for 3 dec (Azhar 81, Masood 67, Rizwan 49*)Scorecard
Shan Masood all but confirmed his place in the Pakistan side for the third Test at Edgbaston with a patient half-century in the tour game against Worcestershire.
Masood, who has looked less than immoveable at the top of the order in the Test series, came into the game under a little pressure, but easily out-scored his most obvious rival for a spot, Sami Aslam, and has almost certainly done enough to retain his spot.
That news may not cause any sleepless nights for James Anderson. He has dismissed Masood, who has scored 71 in four innings this series, in all six innings in which they have confronted one another in Test cricket and on four of those occasions he has failed to pass 2.
But here, confronted by a modest attack and a painfully slow pitch being used for the second time in a week (it was described by Azhar Ali as “a very tired pitch”), he took the opportunity to gain some time at the crease and build some confidence with a determined innings that belied the low-key nature of this two-day contest.
There was one nervous moment early on when he played and missed at Charlie Morris on 1 and another on 52 when Morris put down a tough chance at backward square leg off George Rhodes’ offspin. But in between times he demonstrated patience – he did not score his second run until his 27th delivery and it took him 124 balls to reach his half-century – some familiar nicely timed strokes off his legs and one pleasing off-drive against the medium pace of Alex Hepburn.
Aslam may reflect that he has not been given the best opportunity to shine on this …
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