Stephen Harmison's bowling reminds Mohammad Yousuf of West Indies greats Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh - but it was not good enough yesterday to take the Pakistani's wicket as he moved to within sight of his 14th Test century.

Yousuf once again chose his home ground in Lahore - he made a hundred the last time England visited the Gaddafi Stadium five years ago - to underpin the Pakistan innings as he reached an unbeaten 84 in a stumps total of 185 for four in reply to 288 all out on day two of the final Test.

He was gracious enough afterwards to pay a significant compliment to Harmison, who would have had him out for only 16 had Andrew Flintoff hung on to a low slip catch but was ultimately unable to make his steepling bounce count with the day's most important wicket.

After his Durham colleague Paul Collingwood (96) had fallen agonisingly short of a maiden Test hundred in England's slightly under-par total, there was some consolation for Harmison in the shape of the late dismissal of Hasan Raza which kept the tourists' hopes alive of hanging on to a first-innings lead as they bid for victory here to finish the three-match series level.

Harmison also temporarily eliminated home captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, who shared an 80-run stand with Yousuf until he was hit on the wrist shortly after tea and had to retire hurt with an injured forearm. He subsequently went to hospital for a precautionary x-ray but is expected to be able to bat today with what is thought to be only ''bad bruising''.

England, meanwhile, were left to reflect on a day which saw Matthew Hoggard put the skids under Pakistan's innings at 12 for two, only for Yousuf to come to the rescue with a 149-ball stay which contained 14 typically well-timed boundaries.

Harmison was flattered to hear of the plaudits from Yousuf but he would much rather have been celebrating his wicket.

''It's nice to be mentioned with names like that. But there's a long way in my career to go before I come anywhere near them,'' he said, invited to compare himself with Walsh and Ambrose.

''Those two have 400 and 500 wickets each and I haven't even played 40 Test matches.

''I think we bowled well and with a little bit more rub of the green might have had them two or three more down,'' he suggested.

''There is enough in it to encourage us, but I think we have done well to keep toiling away and get four out. It's been hard work but I think the lads have enjoyed today.''

England badly needed a break of some sort with Inzamam and Yousuf so well-set on 148 for three, a fact not lost on Harmison.

''It's disappointing to see anyone go off injured but at the time they were forming a good partnership and looked as though they had us more or less where they wanted us,'' he admitted.

Pakistan's good health when dusk brought the inevitable early close was a far cry from their lunchtime plight, after Shoaib Malik and number three Asim Kamal both contributed to their own downfall.

Hoggard was in business with the final ball of his first over thanks to an awful shot from Malik, who poked a tame catch to midwicket. Then the Yorkshire bowler deserved more credit for swinging his way past an unwise attempt at an on-drive by Asim to win an lbw verdict from what became the final ball of the morning session.

Yousuf and Salman Butt kept England at bay through to mid-afternoon as some disciplined and aggressive pace bowling from Flintoff and Harmison ensured a stern test for the third-wicket pair, who were allowed relatively few scoring opportunities.

After Butt had lost his patience as he edged an attempted drive behind off Durham's England debutant Liam Plunkett, Yousuf was in no mood to squander his reconnaissance and it was only when Harmison hit Inzamam that Pakistan's equilibrium was threatened again.

In England's innings, Collingwood fell with a century in his sights, hooking Shoaib Akhtar to long-leg in search of the four remaining runs he needed.

* England Under-19s suffered a four-wicket defeat to Bangladesh despite Warwickshire's Moeen Ali in Dhaka making 70 then taking three wickets for 33.