Buttler survives scare to reach century, England 373-4

SOUTHAMPTON, England (AP) — Jos Buttler survived a scare on 99 before reaching his second test century as England strengthened its grip on the third and final test against Pakistan in a wicketless morning session interrupted by two rain breaks on Day 2 on Saturday.

England took lunch on 373-4, with Buttler on a career-best test score of 113 not out and opening-day century-maker Zak Crawley unbeaten on 186.

Needing one run to get to triple figures, Buttler was given out caught behind off Mohammad Abbas, with wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan — up to the stumps — taking a sharp catch. The England batsman immediately reviewed and replays showed no contact, with the noise being his bat hitting his pad.

Off the next ball, he stroked a back-foot drive into the off-side for three runs to bring up his first hundred as England’s wicketkeeper. The other ton — 106 against India two years ago — was as a specialist batsman.

Buttler removed his helmet and saluted his teammates on the balcony after an important innings that further quietened the critics calling for him to be dropped because of wicketkeeping mistakes against the West Indies and Pakistan this season. At the start of this series, he acknowledged he was batting for his place in the team.

Crawley is close to a big milestone of his own after adding 15 runs to his overnight 171, also a personal-best in tests.

The fifth-wicket partnership between Crawley and Buttler grew to 246 runs, after coming together following lunch on Day 1 with England 127-4.

Brief showers took the teams off twice during the morning session, resulting in lunch being taken an hour later than scheduled.

England, which started Day 2 on 332-4, leads 1-0 and is looking to clinch a first series victory over Pakistan in 10 years, as well as a second of the summer after beating the West Indies 2-1.

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