England v Pakistan: Haider's resistance frustrates England as they chase victory

Debutant Haider shared stands of 52 for the seventh wicket with Mohammad Aamer and 115 for the eighth with Saeed Ajmal (50) as Pakistan reached 291-9, leaving England needing to make at least 113 today.

Haider and Aamer demonstrated fine technique and temperament to defy Graeme Swann – who returned a career-best

6-60 – in the afternoon session on a helpful pitch on day three of the second npower Test.

Then England were held up still further by Haider and wicketkeeper Ajmal – who had made a golden duck in the first innings – reaching his 50 and simultaneously putting his team in credit with a memorable on-drive off Steven Finn for his ninth four.

He had come in at 82-5, avoided a king pair only after a DRS review of his first ball from Swann disproved an lbw decision, and also got the right end of a review on 18 when an exasperated Stuart Broad thought he had him caught behind.

Pakistan were 101-6 soon after lunch but Haider and Co had not read the script which dictated the tourists would capitulate again as they did in the first innings and last Sunday in the first Test at Trent Bridge.

Aamer finally departed for just 16 to the 117th delivery he faced, fencing a catch to slip off Broad with the second new ball.

But it was not until late evening that Swann had Ajmal edging to slip two balls after his maiden Test 50, before dismissing Haider in his next over.

The tourists had still been 78 short of making England bat again when Swann had Umar Amin stumped, over-balancing in defence, for his fourth wicket and his team's sixth.

But the rest of the afternoon brought no England success.

Swann, operating in an unbroken 24-over spell on a pitch offering him significant assistance, bowled 67 balls without conceding a run after Haider cover-drove his first delivery of the session for four.

The Pakistan policy at that stage was defence at all costs, but Haider in particular played Swann with good sense and skill, smothering the spin with his long reach.

The experience was all too much for Broad, who vented his anger by throwing a ball back at Haider at the end of an over.

The fast bowler was presumably so convinced he previously had Haider caught behind that he was still seething when he needlessly let a dead ball go and hit the batsman on the shoulder.

Broad was last night charged by match referee Ranjan Madugalle with "throwing the ball inappropriately".

Such a transgression carries the possibility of a one-Test ban if the offender has previous misdemeanours on his record, but since Broad has not been punished before, a fine of 50 or 100 per cent fine of his match fee applies instead.

To make matters worse for Broad, he should have run Aamer out for one in the next over, but his throw to the non-striker's end was far too high.

England had cause for more frustration soon afterwards when Paul Collingwood found an inside edge on to Aamer's pad but Alastair Cook could not take the diving catch at silly-point which would have seen the left-hander off for nine.

Azhar Ali and Imran Farhat had completed their 52-run second-wicket stand after resuming on 19-1, before a rush of wickets as soon as Swann entered the attack at the City End.

A perfect off-break with his third delivery from round the wicket looped into the pads only to turn sharply and beat Farhat's forward defence to hit the off bail.

Swann was at it again in his next over, turning another almost square to beat Azhar's attempted off-drive and bowl him through the gate.

Shoaib Malik decided to deal with the pace of Finn by staying leg-side in defence, and looking to leave on height as well as line.

But the technique backfired when umpire Marais Erasmus decided Finn had got one to run over the batsman's glove on the way to wicketkeeper Matt Prior.

Umar Akmal made an unfathomable decision to pad up to another Swann off-break and had to go lbw after a review.

England could hardly have imagined the minor setback would prove the turning point of a day which was to see Haider turn steadfast defence into measured attack, to the tune of 15 fours in an unexpected

200-ball tour de force.

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Edgbaston Scoreboard

England v Pakistan

Edgbaston: Pakistan lead by 112 runs with one 2nd inns wkt standing.

Overnight: England 251 (K P Pietersen 80, I J L Trott 55; Saeed Ajmal 5-82). Pakistan 72 (S C J Broad 4-38, J M Anderson 4-20) and 19-1.

Pakistan First Innings

Imran Farhat c Prior b Broad 0

Salman Butt c Swann b Finn 7

Azhar Ali lbw b Broad 0

Shoaib Malik c Prior b Anderson 3

Akmal lbw b Finn 17

Amin c Collingwood b Broad 23

Zulqarnain Haider c Prior b Broad 0

Amir c Cook b Anderson 12

Umar Gul c Pietersen b Anderson 0

Ajmal not out 5

Mohammad Asif c Pietersen b Anderson 0

Extras lb4 nb1 5

Total (39.3 overs) 72

Fall: 1-8 2-9 3-12 4-29 5-33 6-36 7-63 8-64 9-67

Bowling: Anderson 14.3 6 20 4; Broad 17 7 38 4; Finn 8 3 10 2.

England First Innings

A J Strauss c Zulqarnain Haider b Amir 25

A N Cook c Akmal b Mohammad Asif 17

I J L Trott c Sub b Amin 55

K P Pietersen c & b Ajmal 80

P D Collingwood c Imran Farhat b Ajmal 28

E J G Morgan c Zulqarnain Haider

b Mohammad Asif 6

M J Prior lbw b Ajmal 15

G P Swann c & b Ajmal 4

S C J Broad c Sub b Ajmal 0

J M Anderson lbw b Amir 0

S T Finn not out 0

Extras b10 lb9 w1 nb1 21

Total (83.1 overs) 251

Fall: 1-44 2-44 3-177 4-205 5-220 6-243 7-248 8-248 9-251

Bowling: Amir 20 4 57 2; Mohammad Asif 20 5 41 2; Umar Gul 9 1 24 0; Ajmal 26.1 5 82 5; Amin 8 2 28 1.

Pakistan Second Innings

Imran Farhat b Swann 29

Salman Butt c Strauss b Anderson 0

Azhar Ali b Swann 19

Shoaib Malik c Prior b Finn 3

Akmal lbw b Swann 20

Amin st Prior b Swann 14

Zulqarnain Haider c Strauss b Swann 88

Amir c Strauss b Broad 16

Ajmal c Collingwood b Swann 50

Umar Gul not out 9

Mohammad Asif not out 13

Extras b16 lb14 30

Total 9 wkts (116 overs) 291

Fall: 1-1 2-53 3-54 4-76 5-82 6-101 7-153 8-268 9-269

Bowling: Anderson 28 13 62 1; Broad 28 8 66 1; Finn 16 5 57 1; Swann 36 20 60 6; Collingwood 7 2 14 0; Pietersen 1 0 2 0.