Nov. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Andrew Flintoff took three wickets to reduce Pakistan to 183-6 after four days of the second cricket Test in Faisalabad, raising England's hopes of a series- tying win. The home side leads by 199 runs.

Flintoff broke an opening stand of 54 between Shoaib Malik and Salman Butt, and struck again to dismiss Mohammad Yousuf and Shahid Afridi in successive balls. Steve Harmison removed Kamran Akmal in the last over today. Inzamam-ul-Haq, who has scored two fifties and a century in the series so far, is 41 not out.

``We fought well in that last session and we're right back in it now,'' Flintoff, who has figures of 3-46, told Sky Sports. ``If we can come again strong in the morning you never know.''

England was dismissed for 446 this morning in reply to the home side's first innings 462. Pakistan won the first match of the three-Test series and needs a draw in the second Test to end England's run of six straight series victories. The draw is the most likely result according to U.K. bookmaker William Hill, with England offered at 9/2 and Pakistan at 11/2.

The tourists lost the first match by 22 runs after chasing a target of 198, with leg-spinner Danish Kaneria removing three top-order batsmen in five overs. Butt sounded a warning that they should maybe expect more of the same.

``Tomorrow the ball will keep low and it will spin,'' he said.

Flintoff broke the opening partnership today when Shoaib drove the ball to Ian Bell at cover. Matthew Hoggard removed Younis Khan leg-before-wicket for 27 with a ball that appeared to be drifting down the leg side.

Hair's Role

Butt reached his third Test fifty before becoming Shaun Udal's first victim of the match. The batsman nudged the ball on the offside and completed a single, only for the run to be canceled by umpire Darrell Hair because Butt was adjudged to have run down the middle of the pitch for the second time in his innings. Sent back to face the next delivery, Butt was trapped by a ball from Udal that straightened and would have hit leg stump.

``It was the umpire's decision,'' Butt said. ``I couldn't get what he was trying to do.''

Captain Inzamam exchanged words with Hair when he came out to bat. If a Pakistan player runs on the pitch again, five runs would be added to England's first-innings total.

Controversies

Umpiring controversies have spiced the match, played at the same venue as England captain Mike Gatting public argument with umpire Shakoor Rana in 1987. Inzamam's first innings two days ago ended when he was adjudged run out even though he hadn't left his crease and was avoiding Harmison's throw. The rules state that a batsman shouldn't be given out if he's taking evasive action.

Later in the afternoon session today, Hoggard had to hurl himself to the ground to avoid being hit on the head by a shy at the stumps from Kevin Pietersen and Harmison narrowly failed to reach a catching chance after Yousuf tried to slog Udal over the infield.

Flintoff snared Yousuf after tea with a ball that moved in off the seam. The batsman played defensively on the back foot and diverted the ball onto his stumps.

The following ball, Flintoff shattered Afridi's stumps to leave Pakistan 161-5. The dismissal of the popular all-rounder - - who scored 92 in 85 balls in the first innings -- prompted hundreds of home supporters to leave the ground. On his debut as a 16-year-old in 1996, Afridi smashed the fastest one-day international century from 37 balls.

Good Shouts

Inzamam survived two close lbw appeals from Flintoff before battling through to the close, with Naved-ul-Hasan, who is yet to score.

Udal and Harmison earlier mustered a 47-run final-wicket stand. Udal reached 33 not out and Harmison was run out for 16 as they cut the first-innings deficit to 16 runs.

Afridi, banned from the next Test for deliberately scuffing the pitch two days ago, took a team-best 4-95. He removed Ashley Giles and Hoggard today before whipping the bails off following a mix-up between the final pair that left both stranded in the middle of the wicket.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sam Sheringham in London on at ssheringham@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 23, 2005 07:31 EST