08/20/26 11:17:00
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08/20 11:16 CDT Root and Cox hit fifties as England powers to 239-4 and into
68-run lead over Pakistan
Root and Cox hit fifties as England powers to 239-4 and into 68-run lead over
Pakistan
LEEDS, England (AP) --- Joe Root and Jordan Cox struck fifties in a 150-run
partnership before being dismissed in the space of five balls as England
powered into a first-innings lead over Pakistan on a weather-hit Day 2 of the
first test on Thursday.
England reached tea on 239-4 at Headingley, with Harry Brook (15) and Dan
Lawrence (22) in the middle and stretching the lead to 68 runs.
Play started four hours late --- at 3 p.m. local time --- because of rain with
England 112-2 in reply to Pakistan's 171 all out, and Cox (73) and Root (66)
picked up where they left off Wednesday.
Almost matching each other run for run, Cox reached his first half-century in
just his second test appearance minutes before Root got to the milestone for
the 109th time in a test career that has seen him score more than 14,000 runs
--- only behind India great Sachin Tendulkar.
Dropped on 57 by Khurram Shahzad off a presentable caught-and-bowled chance,
Cox eventually departed when he edged behind left-arm spinner Ali Usman. The
batter appealed the decision, perhaps thinking he had struck his own pad, but
the nick was clear.
The very next over, Root also departed when he inexplicably missed a straight
one from Khurram and was trapped lbw --- then wasted a review that showed the
ball was hitting middle stump. It was a great chance for England's new captain
to score his national record-extending 42nd century.
Behind on runs, Pakistan was briefly in the ascendancy and it could have gotten
better for tourists, only for stand-in captain Salman Agha, at second slip, to
drop Brook on 1. Worse for Agha was him needing to go off the field for
treatment on the finger the ball brushed past.
Lawrence was making his first test appearance in two years and had already
struck four boundaries.
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