Brave England prove a point

13 April 2012

England claimed an important psychological victory over Pakistan after narrowly failing to take a major stride towards securing a famous triumph in the opening Test.  

Generally regarded as confirmed underdogs for the three-Test series because of their unfamiliarity in the conditions and the effectiveness of their opponents' spin attack, they have confounded predictions by dominating the opening encounter at the Colonel Gaddafi stadium.

Having piled up an impressive 480 for eight declared and nullified all but the magical Saqlain Mushtaq, the tourists came so very close to making Pakistan follow on and give themselves every opportunity of securing only their second Test victory in this country.

Resuming 361 runs adrift on 119 for two needing a further 162 just to avoid batting again, Pakistan slumped to 273 for eight with youngster Yousuf Youhana and tail-ender Saqlain at the crease.

But despite England taking the new ball, Pakistan's ninth-wicket pair were able to claim the eight runs required to pass the follow-on target during an unbroken 60-run stand and steered their side to 333 for eight at the close of the fourth day.

Unless the final day becomes one of the most remarkable in Test history, any hopes of a positive result were all but ended by that late partnership and continued a trend between these two sides having shared 15 draws in the 18 matches played here since 1961.

England, though, know they have proved a point in their first Test in Pakistan for 13 years and will have given their opponents plenty to ponder before they resume the series in Faisalabad on November 29.

"We have given them a damn good scare," claimed Craig White, who followed up his first innings 93 by claiming three for 48 and taking a catch.

"I think they thought it was going to be a pretty easy series, they thought we could not play spin and they would skittle us out for about 200 before going on to make 500 themselves, but we have reversed that.

"We were so close to making them follow on and it gave them a bit of a shock - it will be very interesting to see what sort of pitch they prepare for the next Test now."

White's ability to reverse the old ball, which was always an integral part of England's tactics during this series, was instrumental to their successful day alongside the improving performances of left-arm spinner Ashley Giles.

The Yorkshire all-rounder, restricted to short spells because of the hamstring injury which threatened his participation in this match, made the important first breakthrough of the day when Salim Elahi played on attempted a drive outside off stump.

Giles responded by producing the delivery of the day to out-fox Inzamam-ul-Haq, a powerful player who is unquestionably one of the best in the world against spin.

Beating Inzamam with the flight, the ball turned out of the rough and clipped his off-stump and ended a threatening innings of 63 over nearly three hours.

Sensing the momentum was theirs, White strengthened England's advantage by inducing debutant Qaiser Abbas into a loose shot straight to Graeme Hick in the gully in the over before lunch.

Andrew Caddick nipped in to dismiss captain Moin Khan, but White and Giles regained the spotlight by claiming a further wicket apiece in successive overs shortly before tea and bringing Saqlain out to the crease.

Despite needing only eight runs, the ninth-wicket pair took 53 minutes to finally pass the follow-on target which allowed Youhana to adopt a more aggressive approach and he reached his half-century in style, hooking White for six as one of only three boundaries en route to the landmark.

Youhana opened up even more in the closing stages, piercing England's field four times more to finish unbeaten on 77 and demonstrate the maturity and discipline lacking in some of his more experienced team-mates.

"It's more rewarding to get wickets on a flat surface like that because you have to hit the deck and you only get out what you put in," added White.

"I was pleased with my work-rate, I was running in quite hard and I picked up three wickets as a reward.

"My hamstring played up a bit. I lasted about five overs before I started feeling it a bit, but it's a Test match and you have to try and get through that."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in