England reeling after Shakeel century puts Pakistan ahead in 3rd test

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (AP) — England crumbled to 24-3 after Saud Shakeel's century gave Pakistan the lead on day two of the series-deciding third cricket test on Friday.

Spinners Sajid Khan and Noman Ali took out England openers Ben Duckett and Zac Crawley plus Ollie Pope, as they did in the first innings.

England was still 53 runs behind Pakistan on a turning pitch.

Left-hander Shakeel exhibited immense patience for more than five hours to make 134 off 223 balls and shepherd the tailenders to craft a meaningful 77-run first-innings lead for Pakistan, which was all out for 344.

“When you play on such wickets, you have to back yourself and bat with clarity,” Shakeel said. “Playing against spinners always gives me tension, but I avoided playing sweep shots and relied on rotating the strike with singles.”

Recalled leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed led England with 4-66 in his first international since February, off-spinner Shoaib Bashir took 3-129, and fast bowler Gus Atkinson 2-22.

“We did try different things with him, but he stood to his method and he batted very well,” Ahmed said of Shakeel. “We’re still quite positive ... there’s no sense of negativity or head down with anyone. Everyone still knows he has a job to do.”

Ahmed claimed three of the four wickets in a first session extended for Friday prayers as Pakistan slipped from 73-3 at the start of the day to 177-7, still behind by 90 runs.

Captain Shan Masood was caught in the slips, Mohammad Rizwan and Salman Ali Agha went lbw and Aamer Jamal chopped Ahmed’s googly onto his stumps.

Then Shakeel thwarted England's rising hopes in half-century stands with No. 9 batter Ali (45) and No. 10 Khan (48 not out).

“They (Ali and Khan) really batted well and because of them we are in such a position,” Shakeel said.

Shakeel rotated the strike with deft pushes for singles on both sides of the wicket as he completed his fourth century off 181 balls in the second session with a single off Ahmed to mid-wicket. His four boundaries, in his first test hundred against England, all came when he completed his half-century before lunch.

Captain Ben Stokes’ ploy to open the field in the second session backfired as Ali and Khan batted confidently.

Ali, who successfully overturned an lbw decision against him on 10, fell at the stroke of tea when he was trapped by Bashir with the second new ball.

But Khan counterpunched the England spinners for four sixes and two boundaries before Atkinson’s short-pitch ploy finally worked when Shakeel spooned a catch to mid-wicket after tea.

When England batted again, Duckett was trapped on 12, Crawley also in the next over, and Pope gave a big outside edge to the slips in the eighth over to extend a sub-par series. He's scored 55 runs in five innings.

Joe Root (5) and Harry Brook (3) were at the crease.

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England's Ben Stokes, left, and Jamie Smith, center, celebrate the dismissal of Pakistan's Mohammad Rizwan, right, during the day two of third test cricket match between Pakistan and England, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

England's Joe Root, second left, Shoaib Bashir and Matthew Potts appeal unsuccessful LBW out of Pakistan's Noman Ali during the day two of third test cricket match between Pakistan and England, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

England's Shoaib Bashir, right, celebrates with teammate after taking the wicket of Pakistan's Noman Ali during the day two of third test cricket match between Pakistan and England, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

Pakistan's Saud Shakeel plays a shot during the day two of third test cricket match between Pakistan and England, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

Umpire Sharfuddoula, right, helps to Pakistan's Sajid Khan, who injured when the ball hitting on his face during the day two of third test cricket match between Pakistan and England, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

Pakistan's Sajid Khan, center, and teammates appeal successful LBW out of England's Ben Duckett during the day two of third test cricket match between Pakistan and England, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

Pakistan's Sajid Khan, right, and teammates celebrate after the dismissal of England's Ben Duckett during the day two of third test cricket match between Pakistan and England, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

Pakistan's Noman Ali plays a shot during the day two of third test cricket match between Pakistan and England, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

Pakistan's Saud Shakeel celebrates after scoring century during the day two of third test cricket match between Pakistan and England, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

England's Ben Stokes, left, and Jamie Smith, center, appeal successful LWB out Pakistan's Salman Ali Agha, right, during the day two of third test cricket match between Pakistan and England, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

Pakistan's Saud Shakeel runs to take a score during the day two of third test cricket match between Pakistan and England, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

England's Jack Leach, left, bowls as Pakistan's Saud Shakeel watches during the day two of third test cricket match between Pakistan and England, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

Pakistan's Shan Masood runs to take a score during the day two of third test cricket match between Pakistan and England, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

England's Ben Stokes, left, Jamie Smith, center, and Ollie Pope, second right, jubilate after the dismissal of Pakistan's Shan Masood, right, during the day two of third test cricket match between Pakistan and England, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

England's Shoaib Bashir, center, celebrates with teammates after taking the wicket of Pakistan's Shan Masood during the day two of third test cricket match between Pakistan and England, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

Pakistan's Saud Shakeel plays a shot during the day two of third test cricket match between Pakistan and England, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

England's Ben Stokes, left, and Jamie Smith, center, celebrates after LWB out Pakistan's Salman Ali Agha during the day two of third test cricket match between Pakistan and England, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

England's Rehan Ahmed, center, celebrates with teammates after taking the wicket of Pakistan's Aamer Jamal during the day two of third test cricket match between Pakistan and England, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

England's Rehan Ahmed, right, celebrates with teammate after taking the wicket of Pakistan's Aamer Jamal during the day two of third test cricket match between Pakistan and England, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

England's Rehan Ahmed celebrates after taking the wicket of Pakistan's Aamer Jamal during the day two of third test cricket match between Pakistan and England, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

Israeli airstrikes killed at least 18 people in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, including three children and two high-ranking officers in the Hamas-run police force, according to Palestinian and hospital officials.

One strike early Thursday hit a tent in an Israeli-declared humanitarian zone known as Muwasi, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people are sheltering in tents during the cold and rainy winter.

Another strike killed at least eight Palestinians in the central Gaza Strip. The dead were members of local committees that help secure aid convoys, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the bodies. An Associated Press reporter at the hospital confirmed the toll.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the strikes.

Israel’s offensive has killed over 45,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to local health officials, who say women and children make up more than half the fatalities. The officials do not distinguish between civilians and combatants in their tally.

The war was sparked by Hamas-led militants' Oct. 7, 2023 attack into Israel. They killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 that day. Around 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Here's the latest:

JERUSALEM -- The Israeli military has claimed responsibility for a nighttime raid in Syria last September in which it says dozens of commandos destroyed a top-secret Iranian-led missile factory.

Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said Thursday that Iran, working with its Syrian and the Hezbollah allies, planned to build hundreds of precision guided missiles per year at the factory that could be transferred to Lebanon. He said the facility was located in western Syria around the town of Masyaf near the Lebanese border.

He said Israel had been monitoring the underground facility for several years, but decided to strike at a time when Israel was at war with Hezbollah and the factory was becoming operational.

“This facility posed a clear threat to the state of Israel and this is why we had to take action,” he said.

Shoshani said over 100 special force soldiers took part in the Sept. 8 raid, backed by dozens of aircraft. Calling it one of Israel’s most complex operations in years, he said soldiers arrived by helicopter and entered the facility, which he said was dug deep into the side of a mountain.

In bodycam footage released by the Israeli military, special forces are seen moving through wide underground hallways and seizing documents, before a large explosion destroys the site. The video, which could not be independently verified, also showed images of what the army said was missile-manufacturing equipment.

At the time, Syrian state media reported four deaths from a series of Israeli airstrikes in the area. Shoshani said there were no Israeli casualties, and that Israel also damaged another missile-production facility in Lebanon during the war.

Israel and Hezbollah reached a cease-fire in late November, halting nearly 14 months of fighting.

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was released from the hospital Thursday after recovering from prostate surgery Sunday.

Doctors at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital said Netanyahu was recuperating satisfactorily, although he still has a period of recovery ahead. Medical follow-ups will continue as usual, according to a hospital statement.

Despite doctor’s orders to remain hospitalized, the 75-year-old leader had briefly left the facility to participate in a vote in Israel’s parliament on Tuesday.

KYIV, Ukraine – Ukraine’s president says his country is poised to reestablish diplomatic ties with Syria after the fall of President Bashar Assad and sharply increase agricultural exports to Lebanon despite being engaged in an almost three-year war with Russia.

The developments came after a recent visit to those countries by Ukraine’s top diplomat and its government minister for farming, according to a statement from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday. Ukraine is aiming to build up its security and trade relations in the Middle East, he said.

Ukraine and Syria are assessing cooperation within international organizations, and Syria could this year become a “reliable partner” for Ukraine, Zelenskyy said.

The Ukrainian officials met with Syria’s new de facto authorities led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. The insurgents had ousted Assad, a longtime ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, in early December.

Ukrainian agricultural exports to Lebanon are around $400 million a year but Zelenskyy said he hopes to at least double that.

Ukraine is a leading world producer of wheat, corn, barley, sunflower oil and other food products.

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military says it targeted a senior member of Hamas’ internal security apparatus in a strike in the Gaza Strip that Palestinian officials say killed nine other people, including three children.

The strike early Thursday hit a tent in an Israeli-declared humanitarian zone known as Muwasi, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people are sheltering in tents during the cold and rainy winter.

The military said Hossam Shahwan, a senior officer in the Hamas-run police force in Gaza, was involved in gathering intelligence used by Hamas’ armed wing in attacks on Israeli forces.

Maj. Gen. Mahmoud Salah, another senior police official, was also killed in the strike.

The military says Hamas militants hide among civilians and blames the group for their deaths in the nearly 15-month war, which was ignited by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack into Israel.

The Hamas-run government had a police force numbering in the tens of thousands that maintained a high degree of public security before the war while also violently suppressing dissent.

The police have largely vanished from the streets in many areas after being targeted by Israel, contributing to the breakdown of law and order that has hindered the delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid.

DAMASCUS, Syria — The forces together with armed vehicles were deployed in the city of Homs Thursday to look for the militants affiliated with ousted President Bashar Assad, state media reported.

SANA, citing a military official, said that the new de facto authorities led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham had set up centers in Syria’s third-largest city for former soldiers and militants to hand over their weapons, similar to other parts of Syria.

In early December, a lightning insurgency took out the decades-long rule of Assad in less than two weeks. HTS has since run much of war-torn Syria under the authority of its leader Ahmad al-Sharaa.

Officials who were part of Assad's notorious web of intelligence and security apparatus have been arrested over the past few weeks.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: An Israeli strike has killed at least eight Palestinian men in the central Gaza Strip.

The dead were members of local committees that help secure aid convoys, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the bodies. An Associated Press reporter at the hospital confirmed the toll.

Earlier on Thursday, an Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza killed at least 10 people, including three children and two senior officers in the Hamas-run police.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the strikes.

Israel has repeatedly targeted the police, contributing to a breakdown of law and order in the territory that has made it difficult for humanitarian groups to deliver aid. Israel accuses Hamas of hijacking aid for its own purposes.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Al Jazeera has condemned the Palestinian Authority’s decision to bar it from operating in the occupied West Bank, saying the decision was “in line” with similar actions taken by Israel.

In a statement Thursday, the Qatar-based broadcaster accused the Western-backed authority of seeking to “hide the truth about events in the occupied territories, especially what is happening in Jenin and its camps.”

The Palestinian Authority, which cooperates with Israel on security matters, launched a rare crackdown on anti-Israel militants in the urban Jenin refugee camp last month. The authority has international support but is unpopular among many Palestinians, with critics portraying it as a subcontractor of the Israeli occupation.

The Palestinian Authority announced the suspension of Al Jazeera’s activities on Wednesday, accusing it of incitement and interfering in Palestinian internal affairs. The Palestinian Authority exercises limited autonomy in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Israel banned Al Jazeera last year, accusing it of being a mouthpiece of Hamas. Israeli strikes have killed or wounded several Al Jazeera reporters in Gaza, and Israel has accused some of them of being militants. Israeli forces raided Al Jazeera’s West Bank headquarters last year, but the broadcaster has continued to operate in the territory.

Al Jazeera denies the allegations and accuses Israel of trying to silence its coverage. Its 24-hour reporting from Gaza has focused on the deaths of Palestinian civilians. It has also broadcast Hamas and other militant videos in their entirety, showing attacks on Israeli forces and hostages speaking under duress.

Palestinian children play next to a building destroyed by Israeli army strikes in the central Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Israeli soldiers stand in a bullet-ridden house during a tour for army personnel to observe the damage caused by the Oct. 7 Hamas onslaught at Kibbutz Kfar Aza, near the Israeli-Gaza border, in Israel, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

An Israeli soldier jumps off an armoured vehicle at a staging area near the Gaza border in southern Israel, Thursday Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov))

Palestinians prepare the body for the funeral of a man killed during an Israeli army strike in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, Thursday Jan. 2, 2025. The strike killed at least eight men members of local committees that help secure aid convoys, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the bodies.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A man reacts in grief as the body of 8-year-old Adam Farajallah is brought to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital following an airstrike on a house in the Bureij refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip town of Deir al-Balah Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A man mourns over the body of a Palestinian man killed during an Israeli army strike in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, Thursday Jan. 2, 2025. The strike killed at least eight men members of local committees that help secure aid convoys, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the bodies.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinian girls collect donated food at a food distribution center in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Thursday Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

An Israeli soldier covers his ears as an artillery gunner fires into the Gaza Strip from a position in southern Israel, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025.(AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

A destroyed part of Gaza City as seen from southern Israel, Thursday Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov))

Palestinians inspect the site of an earlier Israeli army strike in the Muwasi area, in Khan Younis, central Gaza Strip, Thursday Jan. 2, 2025. According to Palestinian medical officials, the airstrike killed at least 10 people, including three children and two senior police officers, in an Israeli-designated humanitarian zone in the Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)