Winter comes with the wind for Yasir Shah

It goes without saying that Yasir Shah is a crucial cog in the Pakistan bowling department, even as early as the first hour of a Test match. And the confidence Pakistan have in their legspinner was evident when he was introduced into the attack only 10 overs into the third Test in Southampton. While Shaheen Afridi had sent back Rory Burns early, Zak Crawley and Dom Sibley were building a steady partnership. With not much swing or seam on offer, the legspinner was handed the ball in an attempt to unsettle the second wicket pair.

Yasir's start was an average one as he conceded 21 runs off his first four overs. But Pakistan continued with him - the prospect of a wicket outweighing his economy - and he ensured the reward through the wicket of Sibley who was trapped in front with one that went straight on to end a 61-run stand. Naseem Shah produced a peach to send Joe Root back in the second session while Yasir bagged his second wicket with a quicker delivery that came into Ollie Pope.

Despite the wickets, England were in a position of strength ahead of the final session thanks to Crawley, whose fluent innings ensured the home team's progress. Yasir's nine over spell before Lunch yielded 28 runs, and when he dismissed Pope off the last ball of his 12th over, he had conceded 36. But the confident way in which Crawley and Jos Buttler played Yasir, scoring boundaries off him regularly, left the bowler with figures of 2 for 60 from 19 overs at the time of the Tea break, with England regaining control again by dominating the legspinner.

Having registered his maiden Test ton, Crawley continued to pile on the pressure of runs on Pakistan, with Buttler supporting him from the other end. Pakistan had another go at England with Yasir, and he began in an economic fashion until Buttler decided to take the attack to him. The first sixes of England's innings, the century partnership, Buttler's fifty, Crawley's 150 all came in Yasir's overs as Pakistan's attempt to use him as their primary weapon was negated by Buttler and Crawley's positive approach.

Yasir even went around the wicket only to see Crawley execute the reverse sweep to perfection. A six-over spell in the first hour of the final session was Yasir's most expensive one as he went for 32 with two fours and two maximums being scored off him. Pakistan persisted with him but the England pair had no trouble handling him as the runs conceded by Yasir crossed 100 -- 64 of those coming in the fifth wicket stand -- with the hosts managing 47 off the eight overs he bowled post Tea before the second new ball was taken.

The way England handled Yasir had a huge bearing on their progress on Day 1 as they scored 300-plus on Day 1 of a home Test for the first time in three years. The 34-year-old bowled 31 per cent of the 90 overs that Pakistan bowled and although he was their highest wicket-taker of the day, he also gave away 107 runs - which is 32 per cent of the 332 runs scored by England on the day.

The mistake that Pope did early in his innings was to play on the backfoot to Yasir's deliveries, which eventually cost him his wicket - like it did in the second Test too. While Crawley also played a few deliveries off the backfoot, he managed to survive and once his confidence grew, so did his method of handling Yasir.

"It's challenging because he's quite small and gets quite a lot of bounce. And he bowls this ball where it feels like it's short but actually it does you and it's quite full and you go back to it, which I did on a few occasions but I managed to get a bit of bat on them," Crawley told Sky Sports at the end of the day's play. "But it was definitely nice to have a look at him the other night (batting against Yasir on Day 5 of the second Test) and it made it a lot easier today and I had a much clearer game plan of how I wanted to go about it after the other game."

Mushtaq Ahmed, Pakistan's spin bowling consultant, came to the defence of Yasir. "When you go in with young fast bowlers then there are two types of responsibility (on the experienced spinner). One, you have to stop them from scoring and two, you also have to pick up wickets. And the 28 overs he bowled, he bowled most of it from one end and against the wind. The intensity of the wind was such that it affected his consistency. And also the England team's plan was to attack him and not allow him to settle.

"There was quite a bit of burden and pressure on Yasir bowling with young pacers. But he is enjoying the responsibility and the challenge. He bowled quite well today. I listened to Shane Warne who said he was bowling well but England attacked him well. There was a lot of wind and not much help from the pitch. But we still believe in his wicket-taking abilities," he said.