FAISALABAD: This was the boring bit, the middle day of a Test series which can still go either way, the third day of a Test played on a pitch without energy, so that attacking shots are impossible and bounce and turn only to be seen in our dreams.

Thus Ian Bell was able to bat for four hours almost without incident and Danish Kaneria and Shahid Afridi, two fine leg-break bowlers, able to send down 45 overs without endangering anyone's wicket more than once a session. I trust the second innings will be different.

You had to admire the spectators who sat through the snail speed cricket without complaint. I suppose what happed on Tuesday was a balancing factor for the triple excitements of Monday — Inzamam's dismissal, Afridi's assault on the pitch and ban from Pakistan's next three games and the "bomb".

If balance was the intention of the gods they succeeded with admirable precision. If ever a day lacked excitement it was this 90-over dragathon — they even squeezed in the overs unbowled on Monday — made attractive only by Bell's determination and Kevin Pietersen's curate's egg of an innings.

`New boys' to the rescue

When the pair came together on the second evening they could have been overcome with doubts. Andrew Strauss, Michael Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick, who have 12 Test centuries in the last year, had gone for 107; what could two new boys do who in short careers had scored only two hundreds between them.

We knew Bell's terrier-like qualities and throughout the whole of his 272-ball innings he showed no doubt. His job was to stay in at least until 263 when the follow-on was saved and he never faltered. But Pietersen? What would he do? In fact, for the most part he showed admirable restraint, left his biggest shots in the dressing rooms and lingered 202 minutes over his century. It could not have been more different from his Ashes winning 158 at the Oval if he had worn fancy dress.

Of course, there were times when the old Adam would be out. There were a couple of wild swings and three sixes including the one that took him to his hundred the ball before he was out. "I am not nervous but I do like to get through the nineties in a hurry," he said. "I've only been out once in the nineties - eh, 95." There were six fours too, not all from the middle of the bat and his innings lasted just 137 balls, probably not what the team brainstrust had in mind when his innings began.

No Boycott

We should not be too critical. By his standards he built his innings beautifully, defending stoutly, pushing singles, supporting Bell. We cannot expect a stroke-maker to turn into a Boycott or a Barrington overnight and, after all, he and Bell did stop the follow-on. "We are two young players making our way in the game and today I think we did our bit," said Pietersen, the more talkative of the two by a factor of ten. They put on 154 and increased their stature considerably.

If Andrew Flintoff had made fifty, England's day might have been glorious but he batted uncertainly for only 17 minutes and then had his middle stump plucked out of the ground by Shoaib Akhtar who had just had Pietersen caught pulling.

Bell battled on as you might expect of a man who is still playing for his place until he nudged a catch to that neat young keeper Kamran Akmal off Afridi's bowling. Geraint Jones batted 90 minutes for 55 and put on 52 with Ashley Giles before he was lbw to Afridi.

Missed chances

Pakistan dropped four catches and Akmal missed stumping Bell on 38, a crucial chance.

Pakistan is still cross about what it calls Inzamam-ul-Haq`s "apparently unlawful" dismissal when, by common consent, he was taking evasive action when Steve Harmison threw down his stumps and should not have been given out.

Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach, has protested to the match referee Roshan Mahanama and phone calls have been made to ICC. Pakistan's protests are entirely justified but they should save their energy to ensure it does not happen again.

It is still important that an umpire's decision is final, even in these hi-tech days. They will also hold their own "independent" inquiry into Afridi's dance on the pitch. I'd love to be a fly on the wall at that meeting.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail