1st Test: Eng 111/2 at stumps on Day 3

Galle: Rangana Herath claimed two wickets to give Sri Lanka a good start in their victory pursuit as England reached 111 for 2 in chasing a tough 340 to win the first Test on Wednesday.

The left-arm spinner who took six wickets in the first innings bagged openers Alastair Cook (14) and captain Andrew Strauss (27) soon after tea to leave the visitors 48 for 2.

But Jonathan Trott (40 not out) and Kevin Pietersen (29 not out) shared an unbroken 63 and kept their team in the hunt.

Herath finished with 2 for 52. England still need 229 runs to win with eight wickets in hand on a difficult pitch at Galle.

Earlier, England offspinner Graeme Swann took six wickets to help dismiss Sri Lanka for 214 in their second innings.

England went to tea on day three at 27 without loss but soon after the break Cook misread a straighter delivery from Herath and gave a sharp catch to wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardene. He was first ruled not out by on-field umpire Rod Tucker but Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene asked for a review and won it in his favour.

With the total on 48, Strauss was brilliantly caught by a diving Tillakaratne Dilshan at short mid-wicket for 27.

Sri Lanka started the day batting, resuming their second innings at 84 for 5. Overnight batsmen Dinesh Chandimal and Suraj Randiv shared a useful 42-run partnership to help Sri Lanka be 151 for 8 at lunch.

Left-arm spinner Monty Panesar ended his wicket drought in the first session when he had the first breakthrough of the day to dismiss Chandimal. The batsman tried to hit a delivery that spun away from him, over mid-off but was caught by Pietersen for 31.

Swann completed his five-wicket haul after he reviewed and won an lbw decision against Randiv, who made 18. Herath became Swann's sixth wicket when he missed a sweep and was bowled for 7.

Prasanna Jayawardene scored an unbeaten 61 to boost Sri Lanka with the advantage of a 125-run first-innings lead.

Riding his luck after being caught and bowled by seamer Stuart Broad off a no ball, Jayawardene hit three sixes and three fours during a 123-ball innings.

England had Sri Lanka eight down for 127 but failed to take advantage as the hosts scored 87 runs for the last two wickets.

Swann returned figures of 6 for 82 and Panesar took 2 for 59.

Swann leads England fightback in Galle

Galle: Offspinner Graeme Swann took 4 for 28 in leading England's fightback to restrict Sri Lanka's second innings to 84 for 5 and a 209-run lead after two days of the first Test on Tuesday.

England conceded a 125-run first-innings lead to Sri Lanka.

Opener Lahiru Thirimanne and senior batsmen Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera were all dismissed within 31 overs, leaving Sri Lanka 72 for 5.

Earlier, spinner Rangana Herath took 6 for 74 to end England's first innings for 193 in reply to Sri Lanka's 318.

A total of 17 wickets fell during the second day's play.

Chasing 324 to win, England 36/0 on Day 3

Dubai: England face a tough run chase of 324 to win the third and final Test after Azhar Ali scored a career-best 157 for Pakistan on Sunday.

England need another 288 runs in their second innings after ending the third day on 36-0 with captain Andrew Strauss 19 not out and Alastair Cook undefeated on 15.

England lost the first two Tests and must handle the spin threat of Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman to deny Pakistan a clean sweep of the series.

Cook should have been out on 4 in Umar Gul's second over, but Taufeeq Umar missed an easy catch at third slip. Strauss also survived a close lbw referral off the bowling of Mohammad Hafeez but the TV umpire upheld Simon Taufel's decision.

Earlier, Ali's 157 off 442 balls spanned almost nine hours in Pakistan's second innings score of 365 before leftarm spinner Monty Panesar (5-124) and Graeme Swann (3-101) claimed the last seven wickets for just 34 runs.

Ali featured in two productive stands, adding 216 runs with overnight century-maker Younis Khan and a further 87 runs with Misbah before England spinners hit back on either side of the tea break.

Misbah was defensive in his approach, but ensured Pakistan gradually built their lead with a painstaking 31 off 115 balls during which he hit only one boundary.

Panesar started the collapse when he had Misbah trapped leg before wicket. It was the Pakistan skipper's fifth successive lbw dismissal of the series.

Panesar, who also took seven wickets in the second Test, then started the late flurry of wickets when he had Asad Shafiq lbw - the 40th leg before wicket decision of the series - and clean bowled Adnan Akmal for zero.

Ali soon crossed his previous best ever first class score of 153 after tea before Cook held onto a sharp low catch to bring an end to the innings which included 10 fours and a six.

Panesar wrapped up the innings quickly by having last man Gul leg before wicket.

Earlier, resuming at 222-2, overnight century-maker Khan frustrated England bowlers before he was trapped lbw by Stuart Broad.

Khan went for the referral but TV umpire Shahvir Tarapore upheld onfield umpire Steve Davis' decision as replays suggested the ball would have just clipped the bails.

That brought an end to a double century stand that began before lunch on the second day before Pakistan had wiped off a first-innings deficit of 42 runs.

Khan hit 12 fours and a six in his 20th Test century and faced 221 balls in a superlative display of aggression and defence for just over five hours.

Just before Khan's dismissal England missed a chance when James Anderson found the outside edge of Ali's bat on 84, but Swann dropped a low two-handed catch at second slip.

Ali, resuming on 75, square cut Panesar for his fifth boundary of the innings to raise his second Test century off 319 balls as Pakistan progressed to 295-3 at lunch.

Strauss had no answer to the solid batting on a wicket that saw Pakistan bowled out for 99 and England also restricted to 141 in its first innings.

Kevin Pietersen was the sixth bowler used by Strauss, but his three overs of offspin could not bring reward for the top-ranked Test team before Panesar and Swann struck late in the afternoon.

1st Test: Pakistan beat England by 10 wickets

Dubai: Pakistan handed top-ranked England their first Test defeat in 13 months with a blowout 10-wicket victory inside three days on Thursday.

Pakistan stubbornly extended their first innings in the morning to 338 for a lead of 146, then began before lunch dismantling England in their second innings for 160 inside 58 overs.

Umar Gul's aggressive bowling for 4-63, coupled with some shocking shot selection by the Englishmen, left Pakistan with only 15 runs to win the opening Test of the three-match series, and opener Mohammad Hafeez hit three boundaries in collecting them all.

It was top-ranked England's first defeat since losing to Australia in the Ashes Test at Perth in 2010. England had won seven of nine since then.

Pakistan extended their unbeaten run in Tests to eight since May, including six victories.

Offspinner Saeed Ajmal, who grabbed a career-best 7-55 in England's first innings score of 192, added three more wickets to be named man of the match. It was second career match haul of 10 wickets.

Abdur Rehman showed England why they should have included left-arm spinner Monty Panesar with 3-37, and narrowly missed a hat-trick.

After Adnan Akmal's gutsy half-century stretched Pakistan's first-innings lead to 146, Gul had England on the mat by tea at 75-5, claiming three wickets.

Gul had reduced England to 16-1 at lunch when captain Andrew Strauss was adjudged caught behind off a leg-side delivery after TV umpire Steve Davis upheld onfield umpire Billy Bowden's decision.

Opener Alastair Cook (5) and Kevin Pietersen (0) departed from attempting shocking pull shots against Gul.

In his second spell, Gul found a thick outside edge of topscorer Jonathan Trott, who attempted an expansive cover drive to try and to reach a half century. Trott was out for 49 off 111 balls.

Ajmal undid Ian Bell for 4 with his doosra. The batsman halfheartedly called for a review but started walking back after watching the replay on the big screen at Dubai International Cricket Stadium with the ball striking his back leg in front of the stumps.

Rehman struck just before tea when Eoin Morgan on 14 got a faint edge to the wicketkeeper, and was on a hat trick when he dismissed Stuart Broad (17) and Chris Tremlett (0) off successive deliveries with England still 11 runs shy of making Pakistan bat again.

Graeme Swann (39) and James Anderson (15) ensured England did not lose by an innings with a 25-run last wicket stand before Ajmal wrapped up the innings by finding the leading edge of Swann's bat and Asad Shafiq making a low catch and roll at short cover.

Pakistan resumed overnight at 288-7 and thanks to the diminutive Akmal hitting 61 with eight fours, frustrated England for an hour and a quarter.

Akmal lost Gul for a duck when he hit Broad in only the second over of the day to Morgan at point.

Akmal gathered a precious 30 runs with Ajmal before Swann had the latter caught close to the wicket for 12.

The last-wicket stand of 19 — all made by Akmal — added to England's frustration as the Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman kept the strike from No. 11 Aizaz Cheema for four overs.

Akmal played some extravagant strokes that included two reverse swept boundaries off Swann. He brought up his second Test half-century with a similar stroke for two runs and pumped his fist in joy while raising his bat toward his teammates in the dressing room.

Swann finally closed Pakistan's first innings when Akmal went out of the crease but missed the line and was stumped by Prior down the legside. Swann ended with 4-107 while Broad claimed 3-84.

The second Test begins at Abu Dhabi on Jan. 25, and the teams return to Dubai for the last Test from Feb. 3.