England in with a shout as Flintoff silences fans

Andrew Flintoff performed his latest and perhaps most astonishing feat yesterday by reducing a Pakistan crowd to silence. He took two wickets in successive deliveries to put England back into the second Test, which was slipping away from them for much of the fourth afternoon.

The typically dramatic intervention gave England the faintest glimmer of a chance to level the series. By the close on the fourth day, they were 199 behind, needing four more Pakistani wickets with a target of 250 perhaps not beyond them.

After Flintoff bowled Mohammad Yousuf, he came up with a more telling blow when Shahid Afridi, the hero of the crowd, had his off stump removed first ball.

There was also more controversy, as the batsman Salman Butt was twice warned by the umpires for running on the pitch.