Once Pakistan had survived the new ball without mishap on the second morning, the narrative of the rest of the day would centre on the degree of commitment – leavened with good humour – that England could show in the field as the batsmen ground them down, and then, as the evening shadows began to lengthen, how the visiting batsmen would fare themselves.
For the first part they were commendable in their endeavour, and, as much as anyone could be in searing temperatures, they kept their composure, pace and spin alike. The seamers, collectively, were outstanding, hammering away, although it was Ben Stokes who ended up with the bulk of the spoils, such as they were.
On the other hand England’s spinners, all four of them if a single pre-tea over of off-spin from the ubiquitous Stokes can be included, sent down 70 fruitless overs of false optimism, with not a single wicket to show for it and 302 runs conceded, a world record they will not relish. All the wickets to fall before Pakistan declared at 523 for eight went to Stokes, Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad and Mark Wood.
The declaration, made after Shoaib Malik, a hobbling, knackered wreck by the end of his innings, had finally been dismissed for 245, Asad Shafiq for 107 (their fifth-wicket stand of 248 eclipsing a Pakistan record against England that has stood for more than half a century) and the tail had sacrificed themselves in a final flog, left England a nominal 23 overs to bat, but – more realistically – 90 minutes to play.
It was not without its early traumas. The second delivery of the innings, from the left-arm paceman Rahat Ali, deflected down from the under edge of Alastair Cook’s bat as he attempted his favourite cut, bounced in the air and looked to be landing on the stumps. Cook, instinctively, went to knock it away with his hand before, in a split second of clarity – perhaps remembering the fate that once befell his mentor Graham Gooch – opting to let it drop, which it did safely behind the wicket. The press box at the Zayed stadium is located high in the main stand, with a panoramic view into the distance, but not even from there, and knowing England well enough, would a handled ball have been spotted coming.
What might have been seen a mile off, though, was a potential England collapse and in the fifth over Moeen Ali, in his new role as opening partner for Cook, pushed forwards to Rahat and was hit firmly on the front pad. The lbw appeal looked a solid one but the umpire, Paul Reiffel, turned it down. The inevitable Pakistan request for a review showed the ball striking the batsman the merest smidgeon outside the line of off stump, the only thing that saved Moeen. No one surely could have grumbled if Reiffel, a former international seamer himself, would have shown a moment of compassion for a bowler on this pitch and given it out.
No collapse came, defying the pessimists. Pakistan flipped the bowling around, brought a spinner on early, but no breakthrough was there. Cook, assuming the Moeen role, will resume on 39 and Moeen, stoic as Cook at his best, will do so on 15, the scoreboard reading 56 without loss.
The lack of success for the spinners and, short of a couple of mis-hits into the outfield that tantalised fleetingly, anything resembling it, was both chastening and salutary. The last time England were here in a Test match, Monty Panesar bowled them to the verge of what should have been a win. But the total lack of impact made by Moeen and Adil Rashid is of concern, particularly for the rest of this series, not least because they are the best available to England.
Moeen’s capacity to take wickets in the recent Ashes series was an important factor in England’s win, and it was hoped he would be able to lend some of the sort of control that in the past allowed Graeme Swann to give respite to the seamers, but here he looked stereotyped and largely innocuous.
No such restraint was expected from Rashid, who has waited a while to finally get his chance. He does not buy wickets but the nature of his bowling will provide more scoring opportunities. Experienced Test batsmen know how to prey on the temperament of debutants, however. Neither Malik nor Shafiq were content to allow him to settle and were prepared not just to score off the back foot when he dragged the ball down, but to venture down the pitch and hit over the top.
Rashid’s run count rose relentlessly. He spent a period bowling from round the wicket to the pair of right-handers, and for a while looked more threatening than he had done at any stage. The Pakistan pair handled him superbly so that, by the time the innings ended, Rashid returned to the dressing room with figures of nought for 163, the worst figures by a debutant in his first innings, overhauling those of Australia’s Bryce McGain, who conceded 149 runs without taking a wicket against South Africa in Cape Town in 2009. Rashid will not wish to be known as the new McGain, who never played for his country again.
The match has seen a triumphant return to the Pakistan team for Malik, after five years in the Test wilderness. Bringing him back and batting him at No3 has proved to be a masterstroke. Having survived the Broad no-ball when on 40 on the first day, he offered nothing like another until, after almost 11 hours’ batting, he mistimed a slog at Stokes and was caught by Ian Bell at midwicket, one of two catches for Bell, which hardly atoned for his first-day butterfingers.
In total, the two dropped chances and the no-ball cost, in basic terms, 393 runs. Malik may have had his sights set on a triple hundred, or even the highest scores by a Pakistan batsmen against England, Zaheer Abbas’s 274 at Edgbaston in 1971, and the 260 made by Javed Miandad at The Oval in 1987. Third place is not so shabby, however.
