Second Test meanders towards draw

Playing spoilsport
Rain brought an early end to the fourth day's play at Southampton. Reuters

Southampton: Pakistan claimed the wicket of opener Rory Burns for a duck on Sunday to leave England seven for one in their first innings, but rain forced an early close to day four in the rain-hit second Test at the Rose Bowl.

A little over an hour's play was possible at the start of the day before rain forced the players from the field, and with more bad weather predicted for Monday, the match is meandering towards a tame draw.

England bowled out the tourists for 236, with top scorer Mohammad Rizwan (72) being the last Pakistani batsman to be dismissed, and then managed only five overs of their reply.

That was enough time for Burns to lose his wicket as he was caught at second slip by Asad Shafiq off the bowling of Shaheen Afridi in the bowler-friendly conditions.

It was another failure for the left-hander in the series after he managed scores of four and 10 in the first Test.

Dom Sibley (2 batting) and Zak Crawley (5 batting) will continue the innings if play is possible on the fifth day.

Early strike
Shaheen Afridi accounted for Rory Burns. Reuters

Pakistan had resumed on 223/9, the first bit of action since just before 5 pm on Friday afternoon, with Rizwan flashing his bat in an attempt to score quick runs.

He added 12 to his total before he was caught by Crawley at cover point trying to hit Stuart Broad (4/56) to the boundary.

Broad's figures were the best in the innings, followed by James Anderson (3/60), who answered a number of his critics following questions over whether he should retire after a poor last Test in Manchester.

England won that game by three wickets and lead the three-match series 1-0. The final Test will start in Southampton on Friday.

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