Briefly, Pakistan threatened to break away in their second innings, but this was nullified in the final session. In the context of the match so far it was a riproaring passage, which saw 246 runs scored in 75.4 overs while four wickets fell.These things are relative, and while there was some attractive batting, especially by Craig White and Abdur Razzaq, and England bowled to an inflexible, unadventurous plan, it was difficult to escape the feeling that here was Test cricket by numbers.It was also difficult to avoid the probability that we were witnessing Ian Salisbury’s last Test match. That has probably been said about 12 times before in his 14 appearances but yesterday Nasser Hussain, England’s captain, could bowl him for only four overs when he should have bowled nearer 24 from one end.Sadly, he could not come up with a stock ball, let alone a wicket-taking one. They can persevere with him or not at Karachi in the Third Test starting on Thursday, but questions should be asked about his selection, as they were when it was made in October.There have been absorbing passages in this match, on the first day when England had five Pakistan wickets for 151 and then when England’s opening pair saw off an initially determined assault But it was all leading nowhere. Perhaps neither side wanted to lose but they faced a predicament in building a platform from which they might win.This will not do, as both White, who was on the ground throughout the day, and Wasim Akram, in his so far utterly unmemorable 100th Test, observed. White, who has established himself enough in the past four months to speak with authority, said it must have been horrendous for spectators “It’s no good for anybody,” he said “Horrible to watch and not great to play I feel sorry for people watching. We’re just doing our jobs trying to keep it tight.” White’s point was entirely valid, but this is an issue into which England must tread carefully considering the disgraceful state of their own Test pitches.
The best thing that can be said about them is that they produce positive results, usually in three days.Wasim, while predicting a Pakistani push for victory, said it must be different for Karachi. “We must do it for the sake of Test cricket in Pakistan,” he said. “If you’re positive you always have a chance of winning.” The truth is that Pakistan, despite an indifferent home record in the past five years and a transitional side, expected to beat England. They assumed, with some reason, that the tourists would collapse against their spinners, and it has not happened.For their part, the tourists can make all the noises they want about their renewed capacity to beat Pakistan in Pakistan, but if they can get out of here with a 0-0 draw they should be ecstatic.White was instrumental in ensuring England had a lead. He went out in the morning yesterday when the moisture had barely vanished from the grass and played some sizzling shots. Soon, we shall become accustomed to the sight of White bowling quickly and playing with aggressive assurance, but not yet.
He is still a revelation.He lost his overnight partner, Andrew Caddick, pretty quickly to one which Caddick probably did not touch. Caddick conveyed his surprise at the umpire’s differing view. Or maybe his surprise was that Mian Aslam should remember that the signal for giving a batsmen out was an upraised index, when for most of the match he appeared to have his hands handcuffed behind his back.White hooked Razzaq for six over Wasim’s head at long leg and a few overs later danced down the pitch against the 18-year-old debutant leg- spinner Danish Kaneria and put him on the roof of the enclosure nearest to long off.Gough gave sensible support and the pair added 47 in 51 minutes. White was then beaten by Saqlain Mushtaq’s off- break, but this was England’s second first-innings lead in the series.Pakistan had to change their opening partnership because Saeed Anwar was suffering from a throat infection. His replacement, Salim Elahi, and Shahid Afridi went for their shots against the new ball, with which both Gough and Caddick were innocuous.Gough, however, managed to persuade one to bounce on the reckless Afridi, who responded by top-edging his hook down to long leg, from where Ashley Giles ran in to judge the catch well Giles was soon in the attack.
He bowled 18 consecutive overs in the afternoon.Hussain would probably liked to have had Salisbury as his partner, but four overs were enough. So White had to bowl 12 consecutive overs at one end and in the final session Caddick, who had looked fairly lack-lustre early on, did as he was bidden and found his length.Giles, who came over the wicket to show that England were giving Pakistan nothing, had Elahi caught, sweeping a wide one, off his glove. Razzaq, promoted to three, reached 60 from 167 balls and revealed a solid enough defence, and a driving flair, Inzamam-ul-Haq occasionally displayed his delicate, big man’s touch. But it was going-through-the-motions stuff.The crowd, at almost 10,000 capacity, never stopped chanting, and it will be interesting to see them if they have something to cheer.Faisalabad scoreboardPakistan won tossPakistan – First Innings 316 (Yousuf Youhana 77, Moin Khan 65, Saeed Anwar 43; A F Giles 5-75)England – First Innings (Overnight 282-8)C White b Saqlain Mushtaq 41 (Beaten by turning ball playing half-forward; 89 min, 46 balls, 3 fours, 2 sixes) A R Caddick c Moin Khan b Abdur Razzaq 5 (Edged straight ball to keeper; 29 min, 21 balls) D Gough not out 19 (51 min, 30 balls, 2 fours) Extras (b4, lb14, nb32) 50 Total (593 min, 136.4 overs) 342Fall: 1-49 (Trescothick), 2-105 (Atherton), 3-106 (Hussain), 4-203 (Salisbury), 5-235 (Stewart), 6-274 (Thorpe), 7-274 (Hick), 8-275 (Giles), 9-295 (Caddick), 10-342 (White).Bowling: Wasim Akram 26-6-69-1 (nb8) (6-2-17-0 4-0-13-0 9-3-14-0 7-1-25-1), Abdur Razzaq 20-0-74-3 (nb11) (4-0-17-0 3-0-11-0 4-0-11-0 2-0-7-0 7-0-28-3), Danish Kaneria 34-9-89-2 (nb3) (9-3-28-1 7-3-10-0 3-1-7-0 12-2-28-1 3-0-16-0), Saqlain Mushtaq 30.4-8 -62-3 (nb9) (1-0-2-0 12-4-16-2 6-1-16-0 5-2-8-0 4-1-15-0 2.4-0-5-1), Arshad Khan 25-12-29-1 (5-3-4-0 20-9-25-1), Shahid Afridi 1-0-1-0 (nb1).Progress: Innings closed 11.07am.Pakistan – Second innings Salim Elahi c Stewart b Giles 72 (Hit on glove attempting to sweep wide leg-side ball; 150 min, 116 balls, 10 fours) Shahid Afridi c Giles b Gough 10 (Top-edged hook to long leg; 20 min, 10 balls, 2 fours) Abdur Razzaq not out 60 (238 min, 167 balls, 7 fours) Inzamam-ul-Haq not out 33 (108 min, 80 balls, 1 four) Extras (b6, lb4, nb1) 11 Total (for 2, 259 min, 62 overs) 186Fall: 1-13 (Shahid Afridi), 2-111 (Salim Elahi).Bowling: Gough 6-1-21-1 (4-1-12-1 2-0-9-0), Caddick 16-1-33-0 (nb1) (7-1-11-0 3-0-11-0 6-0-11-0), Giles 22-3-66-1 (1-0-3-0 18-3-57-1 3-0-6-0), White 14-3-38-0 (2-0-3-0 12-3-35-0), Salisbury 4-0-18-0 (one spell).Progress: Lunch 23-1 (Salim Elahi 12, Abdur Razzaq 0) 9 overs 50 in 85 min, 19.4 overs 100 in 133 min, 31 overs Tea 116-2 (Abdur Razzaq 22, Inzamam-ul-Haq 4) 38 overs 150 in 211 min, 50.1 overs. Bad light stopped play 4.40pm.Salim Elahi 50: 114 min, 83 balls, 6 fours.Abdur Razzaq 50: 210 min, 140 balls, 6 fours.Umpires: S A Bucknor, Mian Mohammad Aslam.TV Replay Umpire: Shakeel Khan Match Referee: R S Madugalle.. Ashley Giles’ haul of Test wickets has now entered double figures. It is probably a touch premature to talk of the extension of dynasties.