Stumps - England 290/3
At 290 for 3, England are still 234 behind but Cook has dug a deep, deep trench – on 168, he will not be removed easily.
The final session was not pretty and it was not very engrossing but it was vital to how England began this series. Admittedly the surface is placid and Pakistan’s attack depleted but England withstood with the bat precisely as they did not on their last trip here.
Progress was much as it has been through the day. Cook looked in supreme control, though he did offer one chance – on 147 he swept a luckless Zulfiqar Babar, managed a top edge, only for the substitute fielder Fawad Alam to drop a relatively straightforward chance in the deep.
That was about as exciting as it got. In the eighth over of the session, Bell pulled a boundary to fine leg to bring up a battling 50, off 134 balls. He survived a mildly hairy moment soon after; he went to pull Wahab Riaz and as Sarfraz Ahmed collected the ball, he appealed for caught behind. Replays showed it was close to glove or bat, but not in contact with either.
The Cook drop came in the following over and that seemed to be that for the session. Except, five overs before the close, Riaz tempted Bell into indiscretion, working outside his off-stump and eventually getting him to drive loosely and straight to point.
Mark Wood came in as nightwatchman and did not last long, playing on to a short ball from Riaz in his next over. Cook and Joe Root survived till close but both begin anew tomorrow morning.
Until then Misbah-ul-Haq rotated his bowlers and Babar got through another massive workload. But he was clearly missing the pressure Yasir Shah generally puts on at the other end.
Tea – England 197/1
Alastair Cook and Ian Bell inched England not necessarily closer to Pakistan’s total, but further and further away from the prospect of defeat in the first Test in Abu Dhabi.
Cook scored his 28th Test ton and his eighth in Asia – the most by an overseas batsman – and Bell ground his way to 31 as England reached 197 for one at tea. The pair have put on 81.
It was a trying session for a small but lively holiday crowd, low on action, drama and real progress. Pakistan had only a couple of leg-before appeals and a few streaky edges dropping well short of slips to hold on to. They are missing Yasir Shah for sure, but also a little pace in the surface.
This was, though, Cook’s session. He swept Shoaib Malik early for a boundary, before cutting Zulfiqar Babar to move into the 90s. Not long after, he was cover-driving Wahab Riaz to the boundary to bring up the hundred. It has been built in familiar style, a style that will likely see him become the leading overseas run-scorer in Asia soon.
He survived a DRS review for a leg-before shout trying to sweep Babar but that was about it. Near the end of the session he was dismissively short-arm jabbing Imran Khan away for four.
Bell was a different story. He has not had much success in Asia and was poor last time in the UAE. He was lucky to survive till lunch today. But after the break, over by over, he seemed to grow in confidence against Babar. If he was not slipping away elegantly as he usually does, he was at least looking difficult to break through.
There were moments when he tried, in true Bell-style, to get himself out, chopping on close to the stumps when trying to late cut, but he looked a different man at the end of this session than he did at the end of the last.
Lunch – England 122/1
As long as the Alastair Cook remains Alastair Cook, England's opening troubles do not seem so troubling. The England captain was starting up with his seventh different partner since the retirement of Andrew Strauss but batted serenely through the opening session of the third morning at Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium.
In the process he took England to a position of relative comfort, though Pakistan ratcheted up the pressure in the last half hour. Cook went through on 78 and at 122 for 1, England are still 401 runs behind Pakistan's first innings.
For much of the session Cook and Moeen Ali were untroubled. The captain was the more active, dabbing and sweeping the spin of Zulfiqar Babar.
As he guided Wahab Riaz through third man for a boundary in the day’s fourth over, he brought up fifty; off 75 balls, it was fairly swift too. He later cut Babar and then Wahab through point, as if to confirm that his form is in.
Moeen was a resolute partner until he fell, half an hour before lunch. He was mostly blameless, a beautiful delivery from Imran Khan cutting across him. The edge was well-caught by Sarfraz Ahmed.
Moeen’s 35 matched his last Test innings, though that was made from No 9. That also took only 57 balls to make; this one came off 131, and speaks well of his versatility.
But his dismissal produced a period of intense pressure, especially on the already under-pressure Ian Bell. Babar looked a different bowler to the right-hander – he should, in fact, have had Bell but four overs before lunch, Shan Masood dropped a pad-bat chance at silly point.
The break could not have come at a better time, the last eight overs producing five runs.
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