James Taylor reinforced his reputation as an excellent player of spin as England crawled towards first-innings parity on the second day of the crucial third Test against Pakistan in Sharjah.
Back in the side following a three-year absence, the 25-year-old fully justified his selection with a maiden Test fifty to help the tourists close to within 12 runs of Pakistan's first-innings 234 with six wickets still in tact.
The right-hander's busy approach at the crease refused to let the spinners settle and he regularly unfurled a series of effective sweeps alongside his solid defence.
Alastair Cook and Ian Bell also provided valuable contributions, with 49 and 40 respectively during an important 71-run alliance, but both became victims to excellent leg-spin bowling from Yasir Shah after breaks in play.
The dismissal of Bell, who battled to 40 from 158 balls, opened the door for the designated hosts, but Taylor and Jonny Bairstow slammed it shut with an unbroken stand of 83 on a pitch that was offering more turn as the day wore on.
The extremely slow outfield also hampered the scoring rate and England reached stumps on 222/4 from 92 overs,Taylor on 74 and well supported by Bairstow's 37.
James Taylor displays his excellent footwork against the spinners as he rocks on to the back foot to cut on day two in Sharjah
Although initially there appeared to be less turn than on day one, spin brought the opening breakthrough as Moeen Ali played a rash shot at Shoaib Malik's fourth delivery.
Perhaps deceived by an increase in flight from the previous ball he faced, the left-hander skied an attempted slog-sweep to Younus Khan at slip.
Cook frequently cut and swept while Bell used his feet against the spinners, a tactic that was evident when he lofted Zulfiqar Babar for six, with the second-wicket pair guiding England to 87 for one at lunch.
The only concern for Cook was that he appeared vulnerable against Yasir with a short-leg and leg slip in operation, twice pushing forward and seeing inside edges land safe.
The England skipper fell into the spinner's leg trap in the second over after lunch when, playing backwards, he looped up a bat-pad catch to Azhar Ali at short-leg, missing out on a fourth fifty in five innings.
Pakistan's plans for Joe Root worked too, left-arm paceman Rahat Ali angling a delivery across the Yorkshireman that took the outside edge and Sarfraz Ahmed held on to a one-handed catch low down to his right.
Jonny Bairstow, with 37 not out, helps Taylor move England to within 12 runs of Pakistan's first-innings 234
The departures of England's two leading run-scorers in the series and an increase in spin forced Bell and Taylor into slowly rebuilding during an afternoon session in which only 48 runs were scored in 27 overs.
Recognising he was the last experienced batsman, Bell went into survival mode and added only 16 runs between lunch and tea alongside a comfortable Taylor.
His hard work came to an end in the second over after tea when Yasir lured the right-hander, attempting a forward defensive, out of his crease and Sarfraz whipped off the bails to end a dogged partnership of 42.
England were still 95 runs behind when Bell departed, but Taylor and Bairstow gave them a platform to secure a first-innings lead on day three with an impressive partnership.
Watchful at the start as they tried to rotate the strike, the pair ran superbly between the wickets and were eventually given full value for their shots when the new ball was taken 10 overs before the close.
Taylor stuck six fours, one more than Bairstow, and raised his bat for the first time in Test cricket with a single into the leg side off Wahab Riaz.
England return to The SSE SWALEC in Cardiff in 2016 for Royal London One-Day Internationals against Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
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