Stumps – Pakistan 523/8 delcared; England 56/0
England finally won a session outright, the final one of the second day of their opening Test in Abu Dhabi. They first managed four wickets as Pakistan rushed towards a declaration.
But they will draw far more from the nature of their batting response. By the close they had negotiated 21 overs to end on 56. More importantly they had not lost a wicket. That still leaves them 467 runs behind.
It was not completely without alarm. Alastair Cook nearly handled the ball off the second delivery of the innings. Moeen Ali, having bowled a career-high 30 overs in Pakistan’s innings, survived a strong leg-before shout. Wahab Riaz’s pace produced a few moments of concern too.
Around that, however, Cook and England would have been pleased with the relative comfort of their start. Cook especially looked in good touch, typically mixing those off-side dabs with neat clips through midwicket.
That was sweet relief after the labours of the first five sessions. Mark Wood had Asad Shafiq leg-before soon after tea and Ben Stokes picked up three cheap wickets as Pakistan pushed to a declaration. One of them was that of Shoaib Malik, who finally pulled a tired-looking shot to short midwicket.
That ended an epic 647-minute 245. Pakistan are still in control, but there is hope for England.
Tea – Pakistan 499/4
A first double century for Shoaib Malik and en eighth century for Asad Shafiq put Pakistan definitively in control of the first Test against England.
The pair continued their stand through another afternoon of remorseless toil for England’s bowlers. Their stand, which began late yesterday, is now worth 248 – that went past the previous fifth-wicket record between these sides of 219, between Paul Collingwood and Eoin Morgan in 2010. At 499 for four, England are already under immense scoreboard pressure.
How England must be ruing each run this pair – and Mohammad Hafeez – added after they were dropped or dismissed off a no ball. Those missed chances are collectively worth 379 runs with the possibility of more to come.
The pair progressed untroubled through the post-lunch session and with much the same execution. See off the pacemen, milk the spin and go after Adil Rashid. By session’s end, Rashid held an unwanted record: the worst debut figures by any bowler in the history of the game (if he takes a wicket that changes).
Malik’s landmark was brought up by a dab to third man for two, and more than batsmanship, has fast become a staggering feat of endurance – to bat all but five sessions in this heat speaks highly of his fitness.
Shafiq might have sensed he was under pressure at the start of his innings – Malik’s performance means Pakistan have a selection dilemma in the next Test with the return to fitness of the man he replaced, Azhar Ali.
Shafiq has often batted under pressure of losing his place but this hundred would have eased those nerves. It also underlined Pakistan’s quite staggering batting performances in the UAE over the last year: Malik and Shafiq’s hundreds are the 18th Pakistani batsmen have hit in the last six Tests in the UAE.
Lunch – Pakistan 389/4
If there is a sense that we have been here before, who can blame us? A big hundred, struggling spinners, a tiring attack: is this Australia all over again?
Pakistan imposed exactly the kind of creeping dominance on England on the second day of the first Test at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium as they had all series against Australia.
Shoaib Malik continued to extract maximum benefit from his return to the Test side, continuing in much the same vein as Day 1 and ending the session unbeaten on 168. In a 138-run partnership with Asad Shafiq, he had taken Pakistan to 389 for four.
When the day began, with England still holding a fairly fresh new ball in their hands, momentum was still with them. James Anderson and Stuart Broad bowled four maidens in the first five, Pakistan's score not moving until the session's 13th delivery.
It took six overs for Shafiq to open his account for the day, but once the opening bowlers were gone and Adil Rashid came on, runs began to leak out.
Rashid has endured a chastening Test debut so far and today has been no better. Malik drove him straight down the ground and then smashed a full toss over long on for six in his third over the day to set the tone.
Thereafter both he and Shafiq settled for picking runs off him, almost at will ultimately. Moeen Ali came on and they treated him little better, a boundary never far and easy runs otherwise present.
Soon Shafiq had his 11th Test fifty and the partnership had gone past 100. Mystifyingly, England chose not to try Joe Root’s off-spin, continuing with Rashid as he went past his own century (of runs conceded). Moeen is likely to join him soon, having given away 95.
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