England vs Pakistan, 2020: 3rd Test, Day 3 – Anderson’s record fifer, Azhar Ali’s unbeaten hundred and more stats

England took a huge first-innings lead of 310 in the Southampton Test after bundling out Pakistan to 273 on 3rd day. Resuming the day on 24/3, the Pakistan team was waiting for support at the score of 75/5. Skipper Azhar Ali, along with the wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan (53) added 138 runs in only 39 overs for the 6th wicket. Once Rizwan was dismissed, Pakistan could only add 60 runs for the last four wickets. Azhar Ali remained unbeaten on 141, bringing an end to his misery with the bat outside Asia. England enforced the follow-on but Pakistan’s innings did not start due to the bad light.

All the statistical highlights from the 3rd day’s play in Southampton where Azhar Ali smashed an unbeaten ton:

A record knock by the skipper:

2005 – Azhar Ali’s unbeaten 141 is now the highest score by a Pakistan captain in an away Test match since Inzamam-ul-Haq’s 184 during the 2005 Bangalore against India. It is also the highest by a Pakistan skipper in a Test outside Asia in more than 28 years.

141* – The unbeaten 141 by Azhar Ali is now the 3rd highest individual Test score by a Pakistan captain outside Asia. Hanif Mohammad scored 187* during the 1967 Lord’s Test against England while Javed Miandad made 153* also against England in the 1992 Birmingham Test. These three knocks are also the top three highest individual Test scores by Pakistan captains against England.

A record 5-wicket haul for Anderson:

29 – Number of 5-wicket hauls which James Anderson has picked up in Test cricket; the joint 2nd most fifers for any pacer in this format. Sir Richard Hadlee leads the list with as many as 36 hauls of 5+ wickets while Glenn McGrath also had 29 fifers in Test cricket.

29 – All the 29 fifers of Anderson in Test cricket came while opening the bowling for England. These are the 2nd most 5-wicket hauls for any player in Test cricket while opening the bowling. Richard Hadlee leads this list as 35 of his 36 fifers in Test cricket came while opening the innings with the ball.

22 – The 5-wicket haul in Pakistan’s first inning was the 22nd fifer in home Tests for Anderson. Only Muttiah Muralitharan (45 in SL), Rangana Herath (26 in SL) and Anil Kumble (25 in IND) have picked more 5-wicket hauls in home Tests than Anderson.

Milestones for Pakistan and Azhar:

400 – The unbeaten hundred by Azhar Ali is now the 400th individual century recorded for Pakistan in Test cricket. Only England (877), Australia (861), India (517) and West Indies (488) have 400 or more individual centuries in the longer format.

6098 – Azhar Ali became the 5th player to aggregate 6000 runs in Test cricket for Pakistan. However, Azhar needed 151 innings to reach the feat while all the previous four Pakistan players got there in no more than 135 innings.

A first for Pakistan:

1 – Mohammad Rizwan became the first Pakistan wicketkeeper with multiple fifty-plus scores in a Test series against England. Rizwan scored 72 in the previous Test and 53 in the first innings of the ongoing 3rd Test.

End of Broad’s streak:

7/8 – Stuart Broad picked up only two wickets in Pakistan’s first innings; the first time he failed to pick at least three wickets in an innings during the current home season. Before the ongoing Southampton Test, Broad bowled in seven innings this summer and returned with at least three scalps. The two wickets also brought an end to Broad’s streak of 8 consecutive home Test innings with 3 or more wickets.