This was one of those matches which swung from looking like a certain draw to a dramatic final day climax. Apart from James Anderson’s early strike, Pakistan seemed to have made a positive start to the series as Shoaib Malik took charge.
Last time the two nations met in the UAE, the story was all about spinners. This time in Abu Dhabi, England’s slow bowlers between them ended up with figures of 69-3-297-0. This was particularly disappointing for Adil Rashid, making a belated Test debut.
Malik shared stands of 168 (with Hafeez) and 248 (with Asad Shafiq) and compiled a career-best 245 before becoming the third of Ben Stokes’ four victims. England thus needed to bat log and hard to avoid defeat. This they achieved admirably, thanks largely to Alastair Cook.
The captain found himself in the unusual position of the faster scoring opening partner, contributing the bulk of the 116 made with Moeen Ali. It was a similar story when Ian Bell came to the crease, then both Joe Root and Stokes also hit half-centuries. Meanwhile, Cook advanced serenely past 200 and appeared almost certain of reaching 300 when a mistimed sweep ended the innings. Amazingly it had lasted 190 overs and just short of 14 hours, longer than even Len Hutton’s ex-world record 364 epic 77 years earlier.
In hindsight, the fifth morning declaration may have been delayed for too long but the turnaround was impressive. In particular, Rashid claimed five victims as Pakistan self-destructed. Bowled out for just 173, they now had barely an hour to prevent England slogging their way to a target of 99. Now for the real drama.
Promoting Buttler to join Ali, England were set on victory. However, things didn’t go all their way. The openers fell quickly, as did Stokes and Bairstow, but with another 25 required from a maximum of eight overs, the umpires Oxenford and Reiffel ruled that the light was too bad to continue.
Tough on England. Tough on cricket, too, but the officials undeniably played by the rules. It just adds just a little edge to the forthcoming Second Test.
