Sharjah, November 1

James Anderson claimed four wickets as England made an excellent start to the third and final Test in Sharjah by bowling out Pakistan for 234 on Sunday.

With England needing a victory to level the series, Pakistan won the toss and batted but Anderson and fellow paceman Stuart Broad made them regret their decision by producing combined figures of 6-30. Pakistan were 116-5 at one stage and were only spared complete embarrassment by captain Misbah-ul-Haq’s 71 and 39 from Sarfraz Ahmed. Sarfraz, batting at No 7, was caught by Joe Root off spinner Moeen Ali and Misbah’s men collapsed with their last five wickets falling for just 38 runs.

Mohammad Hafeez (27) looked confident but the opener succumbed to a soft dismissal, top edging Moeen to Broad at deep backward square leg. He also had Shoaib Malik trapped leg before on 22 but the Pakistani reviewed the decision and got it overturned.

It yielded immediate dividends as Anderson, replacing Broad, trapped the dangerous Younus Khan leg before for 31 with the first ball of his new spell. Samit Patel then dismissed Asad Shafiq for five.

Anderson finished with figures of 4-17 from 15.1 overs while Broad was equally mean with the ball, taking 2-13 in as many overs. Moeen and Patel took two wickets apiece.