SHARJAH // Mohammed Hafeez countered what he described as the most pronounced reverse swing he has seen in his career to guide Pakistan to the brink of a series win over England.
The opening batsman enjoyed some good fortune in making 151 as Pakistan set England an unlikely target on 284 to win the Sharjah Test and draw the three-match series.
He was given out on two, before being spared by a television review. He survived two close calls in the opening over of Day 4, bowled by Adil Rashid, when he was three runs short of his century.
First an lbw shout was rebuffed, then, two balls later, Jonny Bairstow missed a stumping. Stuart Broad also missed a return catch when Hafeez was on 113.
Given the amount of turn this pitch has provided since Day 1, England will regard their selection of three spinners to have been the correct decision. The slow bowlers have been found severely wanting, though.
Between them, Rashid, Moeen Ali and Samit Patel took seven for 423 in the match. By contrast, seamers James Anderson and Broad managed 11 for 136.
The success of the pacemen was partly due to unerring accuracy, and partly due to significant movement they produced from the old ball. “I’ve been playing international cricket for the past 13 years, and I haven’t faced that much reverse swing in my career,” Hafeez said.
“To be honest, I am very surprised to see that much reverse swing happening in the game.
“I watched a couple of the games when Wasim (Akram) and Waqar (Younis) used to do these things. Nowadays I think James Anderson and Stuart Broad got that.”
Hafeez said he and his colleagues have profited from a gameplan devised around going after the inexperienced spinners in the touring side.
“Their planning was right, because this track is giving more assistance to the spinner,” he said. “As a batting unit we didn’t allow them to adjust. We attacked them, and they didn’t bowl to the right area on a consistent level. Attacking them worked for us.”
From the evidence of the 18 overs they sent down in England’s reply in the evening session, Pakistan’s spin bowlers can be relied upon to provide a more sustained assault today than England’s did.
Shoaib Malik, the least heralded of the three Pakistan slow bowlers, dismissed Moeen Ali and Ian Bell, to make England’s task even harder.
Maybe the final throes of the Test will be instructive for the away side’s spinners.
“It’s a big learner,” Anderson said. “They’re bowling at batsmen who have grown up playing against spin, and some of their guys are experts at it.
“They’re going to take a lot from it. In international cricket you have to learn fast. If you don’t, you don’t stick around. They’ll have to learn fast if they’re going to improve and help us win next winter [when England tour Bangladesh and India].”
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