Cricket

Pakistan's batting reverted to type as they subsided in a heap for 74 after tea on the third day at Lord's. Graeme Swann and Steven Finn combined to rip through the middle and lower order with indecent haste as the last seven wickets fell for 28 and Andrew Strauss quickly enforced the follow on.

Already three down at the start of the session it became four immediately upon the restart when Swann produced yet another beauty which gripped and turned past Salman Butt's edge to clip off stump. The batsman initially stood his ground thinking the wicketkeeper may have knocked off the bails, but his dismissal was swiftly confirmed.

That brought Umar Akmal to the crease and he was immediately greeted by some words from Jonathan Trott at silly point following their conversations during England's innings and Umar proceeding to launch his third ball over midwicket. But Swann was finding huge turn, much more than Saeed Ajmal extracted, and soon had Azhar Ali taken at short leg as the batsman lunged forward and got an inside edge to Alastair Cook.

Meanwhile, Umar started complaining about problems picking up Finn's line from the Nursery End as the bowler's hand came from above the sightscreen. It clearly effected Umar's mindset when he was told just to get on with it by the umpires and it wasn't long before Finn, who improved with the change of ends, speared a yorker through his defences.

Two balls later Mohammad Amir clearly lost sight of the ball which thudded into his pads and although Tony Hill said not out Strauss correctly opted for a review and leg stump would have been hit flush. To Amir's credit he left without complaint, but his spirit was far removed from the joyous character of yesterday.

The end came swiftly as Kamran Akmal gave Finn his third and Swann helped himself to a cheap four-wicket haul by claiming the last two. A few moments later Pakistan were back for their second innings desperately in need of salvaging some pride.

Tea Pakistan 46 for 3 (Butt 26*, Azhar 10*) trail England 446 (Trott 184, Broad 169, Amir 6-84) by 400 runs

Stuart Broad followed his mighty 169 with two early wickets as Pakistan threatened to crumble on the third day at Lord's. Broad and Jonathan Trott, who made a magnificent 184, carried their eighth-wicket stand to a new world record of 332 before England were finally removed for 446. In reply Pakistan slumped to 10 for 3 when Mohammad Yousuf fell for a duck before battling to tea without further loss but still a long way behind.

Having been through the debilitating experience of watching England haul themselves from hopelessness to supremacy in record style there was always the danger that Pakistan's top order would succumb to the pressure. Although it was one of the best days for batting during the series there was still help on offer with the new ball and in the hands of Broad and James Anderson it became a major threat.

Broad dispatched Yasir Hameed in familiar manner as the opener hung his bat outside off and sent a comfortable edge to second slip. Anderson then exploited Imran Farhat's weakness against the moving ball when he drove loosely at an outswinger having watched the previous four deliveries zip past his outside edge.

The best set-up, though, was still to come as England executed their plan to Yousuf to perfection when Broad slotted a full delivery past the bat. It was almost identical to how Yousuf fell in the second innings at The Oval and England have always felt it is a way to trap Yousuf early since Anderson did the same at Cape Town in the 2003 World Cup.

It could have all fallen away rapidly for Pakistan, but Salman Butt showed some backbone as he took an aggressive approach against Steven Finn whose first three overs cost 25 and Azhar Ali showed the determination that has been evident throughout the tour. Graeme Swann was introduced shortly before tea and immediately caused problems as he ripped two balls past Butt's edge and watched a leading edge lob over cover to suggest he'll have a major role to play.

The morning session had been another full of records as Trott and Broad continued their monumental effort. The new world record was brought up in Wahab Riaz's first over of the day when Broad slotted a cover drive to the boundary to surpass the 313-run stand by Wasim Akram and Saqlain Mushtaq against Zimbabwe in 1996. Thoughts were turning towards an extraordinary double century for Broad, who had passed his father's Test best of 162, before Pakistan finally struck when Broad was given out lbw on a review.

Broad had been given a life on 132 when Kamran Akmal couldn't gather an edge off Saeed Ajmal and the scoring rate soon increased as both batsmen began to find the boundary with regularity. Broad lost nothing in comparison with Trott and the cover-driving was a highlight of the display as he, too, went past 150 but missed out by five runs on knocking Ian Smith from the top spot for a No. 9.

Mohammad Amir toiled away in a far more defensive mindset than the previous day as he persisted with a wide line to Trott who was quite content to let the ball go until something was overpitched or on the pads. His timing and placement was of the highest quality, particularly a couple of off-side strokes against Ajmal, and he was within sight of being the first man to score two double hundreds at Lord's until becoming last-man out as he chased a wide ball from Riaz.

Andrew McGlashan is an assistant editor at Cricinfo