SHARJAH // How much England will have learnt from their low-intensity opening tour match against Pakistan A over the past two days is debatable.
If their bowlers emerged from Tuesday’s travails, over 90 overs on a typically bone-hard Sharjah shirt-front, with their spirits in tact and limbs still functioning, they will probably consider it mission accomplished.
The fact Pakistan’s second string batsmen achieved a rate of 2.4 runs per over over the course of the day was thanks mainly due a late flurry of boundaries by Adnan Akmal. For the first half of the day, it had hovered below two.
Now wonder no-one fancied coming to watch. For once, the stadium goat did not even bother looking in, from his home behind the stand at the football ground end, so turgid was it.
It was soul-sapping stuff, the sort of day designed to test the patience, as well as fitness, of fast-bowlers like James Anderson, Ben Stokes and Stuart Broad, who managed one wicket between them.
At least Broad had the consolation of two catches to show for his efforts, and the first of them was a stunner.
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Back in 2010, when England played at Dubai International Stadium for the first time in two Twenty20 games against Pakistan, their then captain Paul Collingwood had joked about Broad’s catching skills — or lack of them. “Let’s hope it doesn’t go to Broady,” he said, when asked about England’s fielding.
But his effort here to dismiss Sami Aslam, the young Pakistani opener, off Mark Wood’s bowling, was Collingwood-esque in its excellence.
Despite having limited equipment, England’s social media team somehow managed to capture footage of it. By the end of the day’s play, it was already an online hit.
Broad himself retweeted the video after the close, along with a self-deprecating appraisal. “The batsman can count himself unlucky,” he said.
Wood, the bowler who profited, termed the catch a “blinder,” and said it was the sort of brilliance England are going to need if they are going to be successful when the proper cricket starts in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
“It’s Test match cricket for a reason — it is not meant to be easy,” Wood said, after an impressive day’s work which brought him one for 24 in 13 overs.
“We have got to get used to it quickly, because that is how we are going to win the series, by taking those half chances.”
Both sides had issues to settle coming into the game. Each of the protagonists in question will still have their immediate futures written in pencil rather than indelible ink, though.
Whether Moeen Ali represents England’s best chance as opening partner to Alastair Cook was hardly proved or disproved by his innings of 22 on Day 1. Adil Rashid’s leg-spin, meanwhile, was neat, not forthright.
And on the other side, Fawad Alam’s 147-ball 55 suggested he would be a solid selection if he is to return to Pakistan’s Test XI next week, rather than a spectacular one.
Even while he was batting, though, his claims to a recall for the first time since 2009 were being muddled by the fact Shoaib Malik had been added to the squad for the first Test.
As a Pakistani cricketer, Fawad is well used to uncertainty, but he said he is excited by the fact he is at least back in with a chance of playing.
“It is good for me, but it is not easy after five years away to play for your country,” Fawad said. “I’m still learning and waiting for my chance to deliver again.
“[England] are a good bowling side. Even though this was a practice match, they bowled very well. Let’s see what happens in the Test match.”
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