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Pakistan are eight wickets away from ending South Africa’s ten-match winning streak in Test cricket after asking them to complete the highest successful chase in Lahore and second-highest in Pakistan. A target of 277 looks far away with the visitors 51 for 2 at stumps on the third day.In a match that has played to script, Pakistan won the toss, batted first, took a 109-run innings lead and scored quickly in their second go to leave South Africa in a battle for survival. Spinners have been the key protagonists, led by Senuran Muthusamy who finished with career-best match figures of 11 for 174, including a second five-for. Muthusamy’s haul is the fourth-best by a South African spinner but that is unlikely to be enough to help them win the game.Instead, it is Noman Ali who will take the headlines after picking up his fifth successive Test five-for earlier in the day and, adding to that haul, two second-innings wickets as well to set Pakistan on their way.The day began with South Africa’s first innings still standing. There were four wickets left and Sajid Khan took one of them when Muthusamy edged him to slip, where Salman Agha claimed a sharp catch.With the score 228 for 7, Tony de Zorzi had a decision to make. He was 81 overnight. A swing across the line for four against Sajid and a strike over long-off for six against Noman made it clear what his plans were going to be. De Zorzi reverse-swept Noman for a single to bring up a hard-fought hundred, which was the second of his Test career and second in the subcontinent.Tony de Zorzi brought up his second Test century•Getty Images

With the second new ball looming, de Zorzi sought to be as aggressive as possible but it was his undoing. He advanced on Noman and swung hard but only got the ball as far as Shaheen Shah Afridi on the long-on boundary to give Noman a five-for. South Africa made it to the second new ball, Pakistan took it and gave it to their spinners, and it took Noman eight balls to strike. Prenalen Subrayen tried to defend but got an edge and Agha was in action again to take another good catch at slip. Noman finished with 6 for 112.With a first innings lead of 109, Pakistan could afford early losses and risky strokeplay. Imam-ul-Haq was the first to fall when he shimmied down the pitch to drive Simon Harmer through the offside but he missed the ball as it turned away from him and was stumped for 0.Kagiso Rabada caused significant problems in a superb new-ball spell. He found Abdullah Shafique’s edge three times but the ball went for four on each occasion and also beat Shan Masood with a peach that just missed off stump. The pressure Rabada created brought rewards at the other end. Harmer got a second when Masood was stuck on the back foot trying to cut a delivery that angled in and hit on the pad. Babar Azam survived an lbw review before lunch off Rabada when he was hit high on the back leg and Markram was convinced to send it upstairs. The ball would have bounced over the stumps.Babar continued to live dangerously after the break. He top-edged a sweep off Harmer but it went over leg slip. Shafique hit Muthusamy high over mid-off but Wiaan Mulder couldn’t take the catch over his left shoulder. Eventually, Babar settled down and was willing to show a little more patience than his peers.He scored just nine runs off the first 26 balls he faced and was getting his eye in when he watched Shafique hand Muthusamy a thigh-high caught and bowled dismissal. In Muthusamy’s next over, Babar came down the pitch to hit him through mid-on and assert his authority.Senuran Muthusamy finished with the fourth-best match figures by a South African spinner•Getty Images

Saud Shakeel, on a pair, survived a South African review for lbw off Muthusamy as UltraEdge picked up an under-edge but had to wait seven balls before he scored. He swept Muthusamy behind square for his first runs of the match. Pakistan grew more aggressive as Babar hit Muthusamy over his head, past midwicket and through third for a trio of boundaries in the same over to enter the forties.The adoring home crowd were denied a Babar fifty when Rabada got one to nip back into him and hit his back pad. He was given out lbw and reviewed, unsuccessfully. Then, just before tea, Shakeel tried to clear midwicket but hit the ball to Tristan Stubbs at deep square leg to leave Pakistan 150 for 5.Things happened quickly after the break as Pakistan lost their next five wickets for 17 runs in an overall collapse of 7 for 48 from Babar’s dismissal. Mohammad Rizwan was bowled by Harmer, who ripped one in between the bat-pad gap. Afridi was promoted to No. 8 and reverse-swept Muthusamy to backward point and then Muthusamy picked up his tenth when he bowled Agha with a tossed-up delivery that beat his swipe.Any delight South Africa took from a strong bowling performance was soon eclipsed by the dread of how their own line-up would fare in the second innings. Noman soon provided the answer. Markram, frustrated with his 3 off 10, cleared his front leg to try and hoick Noman leg side but missed and was bowled. Then, Mulder, for the second time in the game, played a poor stroke, albeit that this was more of a non-shot. He shaped to cut, backed out and edged Noman to slip and Agha’s safe hands made no mistake.Ryan Rickelton and de Zorzi saw out the day but not without some nervy moments. Rickelton was on 26 when he jabbed Noman to Shafique at short leg but the ball was hit quickly and Shafique could not hold on. De Zorzi survived an lbw shout in the penultimate over after he moved well outside off stump and Pakistan considered reviewing against Rickelton off the last ball but he too had made sure to get outside the line of the stumps.

Isaac Mohammed evoked the spirit of his uncle, the England allrounder Moeen Ali, with a maiden half-century to get Worcestershire’s Metro Bank One-Day Cup campaign off the ground with victory at Chelmsford.The 17-year-old opener, who only made his first-team debut in the Vitality Blast less than two months ago, played enterprisingly in laying the foundations for Worcestershire’s 60-run win against Essex with 28 balls to spare.Worcestershire’s 340 for 9 was built around four big-hitting half-centuries from top-order batters, who shared 11 of 12 sixes in the innings with Mohammed landing four of them. His 63 from 75 balls was the appetiser before Kashif Ali (80 from 73) and Jake Libby (70 from 63) put on 110 in 17 overs. That preceded Ethan Brookes exploding on to the scene to take the game away from the still winless hosts.Brookes was at the crease for 27 minutes while hammering four sixes and six fours in a 25-ball 56. His stand of 80 with Libby encompassed just six overs.In response, Essex opener Robin Das took his tally to 147 runs in three innings with back-to-back fifties. But while others got in, they just as quickly got out and the target was never seriously threatened. Brookes made sure of that with 3 for 52.It was not all rosy for Worcestershire, though. Rob Jones had declared himself unfit to play earlier in the morning but was named in the XI at the toss in what was later described as an ‘administrative error’. He came out at the fall of the ninth wicket, faced two balls, scored five not out and was not seen again.The visitors recovered from an underwhelming 33 without loss in the 10-over powerplay, to add 117 in 15 overs between the halfway mark and the 40th over before six wickets went down in the last half-dozen overs as they chased late runs.Worcestershire’s openers put on 60 before Nick Browne snaffled a leading-edge skier in the covers to dismiss Brett D’Oliveira.Mohammed, meanwhile, had looked in trouble early on as Shane Snater benefited from the extra grass left on the wicket to gain lift and carry that had the youngster groping outside off-stump. It did not last long as the left-hander took control and reached his maiden half-century in 67 balls. His four sixes were equally distributed between long-off and square leg.He departed when he misjudged a ball of fuller length from Tom Westley that beat his tentative forward prod and rapped him on the pad.Kashif and Libby’s second successive century stand was less thrilling than Mohammed’s innings, but with lots of nudging and nurdling they kept the scoreboard ticking along.Kashif reached his fifty by punching Luc Benkenstein through the covers. However, he had earlier been hit on his right hip, and when he reached 58, called for the aid of a runner. Re-enter Mohammed. Despite his mobility being severely restricted, Kashif still managed to launch his next ball over midwicket for six. His evident discomfort was ended, though, when he lofted Benkenstein to long leg.Brookes was a whirlwind of hyper-activity with four sixes in his 23-minute fifty, reached with a delicate leg glance for his fifth four. He departed at 297 for 4 when caught at short third. The late wickets were largely self-inflicted.Ben Allison ended his former team-mates’ opening stand of 71 when Matt Critchley stepped aside to give himself room and was bowled. Das reached fifty from 49 balls but next ball was caught just inside the midwicket boundary.Charlie Allison dug in for a 46-run stand with Westley before he was bowled off his pads by Fateh Singh and Benkenstein’s belligerent 23 from 17 balls was ended when he drove D’Oliveira to extra cover.Westley also fell stepping away from his wicket against Singh for 43; Simon Fernandes chipped to short midwicket and Noah Thain was caught-and-bowled by Brookes as Essex’s reply spluttered and died.