Stumps report: England have closed day two on 222-4, putting themselves in the driving seat in the final Test against Pakistan in Sharjah. Alastair Cook and Moeen Ali began the day on four without loss after removing Pakistan for 234 runs on the opening day. England suffered an early blow when Ali was dismissed for 14 in the morning session, but captain Cook and Ian Bell managed to put on a 68-run partnership before lunch. Pakistan found their breakthrough four overs into the afternoon session when Yasir Shah dismissed Cook with the batsman just one run shy of a half-century.
Things went from bad to worse for England when their star batsman Joe Root managed just four runs before he was caught out by Sarfraz Ahmed after edging the ball off Rahat Ali's delivery. Bell was the next to go following a decent knock of 40 runs, but James Taylor and Jonny Bairstow managed to swing the momentum back in England's direction by finishing the day unbeaten on 74 and 37 runs respectively. England trail Pakistan by 12 runs in their first innings.
Tea report: England have reached 135-3 at tea on day two of the third and final Test in Sharjah, as they trail Pakistan by 99 runs with seven wickets in hand. Having lost Moeen Ali during the morning session, Trevor Bayliss's side were looking to continue to add runs with captain Alastair Cook and Ian Bell at the crease. However, Cook fell in the fourth over after lunch one run short of another half-century when he was caught by Azhar Ali off the bowling of Yasir Shah. England looked to be in trouble as Joe Root was dismissed for four shortly after.
The batsman attempted to play at a slightly wider ball from Rahat Ali, but it glanced off the outside edge of the bat and Sarfraz Ahmed got down low to take the catch, leaving Cook's men on 97-3. James Taylor, who was making his first Test appearance for three years, joined Bell in the middle and the pair set about preventing another batting collapse. They took the side past 100 and continued to add runs at a steady rate, with Nottinghamshire man Taylor showing no signs of nerves on his return to the Test arena. Their patient approach guided England through to tea with no further losses, and they will resume in the evening session with Bell on 40 and Taylor on 26.
Lunch report: England duo Alastair Cook and Ian Bell have recovered from the blow of losing Moeen Ali early on day two thanks to an unbeaten 68-run partnership in the third and final Test against Pakistan. Trevor Bayliss's side have reached lunch on 87-1 following a positive opening day when they removed Pakistan for 234 runs in Sharjah.
This morning, it was a steady start for England as Ali nabbed the first boundary of the day four overs in off Rahat Ali, but the batsman was back in the pavilion three overs later. Ali looped a top edge to Younis Khan at slip off Shoaib Malik's delivery to leave the field having hit just 14 runs from 28 balls. Cook and Bell managed to keep England ticking, with the captain nabbing (four) boundaries and his partner showing some early aggression with a six.
Bell responded to Zulfiqar Babar's delivery by smashing the ball off the middle of the bat over the boundary at long-off. Cook and Bell will return to the crease for the afternoon session unbeaten on 48 and 24 runs respectively. England are 1-0 down in the series.
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