Pakistan make sloppy England pay
ONLYin cricket could the Decision Review System be used to overturn a decision without having the technology in place to prove it was wrong. Confused? Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq was after the most controversial of dismissals.
The first day of this first Test had proved a predictably thankless task in the most unforgiving conditions in world cricket for England until they were given a lifeline by an extraordinary decision from TV umpire S Ravi.
Misbah is the cricketing king of Abu Dhabi, with four centuries in his last four Tests here and an average of 120 on this ground, and he looked certain to add many more runs, with England toiling in this soulless, largely deserted arena.
That was until England went up for a catch behind off Jimmy Anderson and Alastair Cook reviewed umpire Paul Reiffel’s not out decision only, it seemed, because he had two up his sleeve and 80 overs were almost up.
It seemed a pointless exercise, with no HotSpot nor Realtime Snicko being used here as the ICC still refuse to pay for them, but after what seemed like an eternity Indian umpire Ravi decided he could hear an edge better than Reiffel.
What a bonus it was for England, who already looked in trouble at tea but who, after taking the big wickets of Misbah and Younis Khan in the last session, are still hanging in there with Pakistan reaching 286/4 by the close.
It could and should have been so much better for England even though they lost a crucial toss. They knew how difficult it would be to take 20 wickets here but, just as they squandered chances in the Ashes by dropping catches and taking wickets with no-balls, they did it again here. And how costly it proved.
Ian Bell proved fallible in the slips last summer and now he spilled two chances off Anderson, the first when Mohammad Hafeez was on seven.
If that had been taken Pakistan would have been 12/2 – Shan Mahsood earlier bizarrely falling to a short ball from Anderson that cannoned into the stumps off his helmet – and perhaps England’s day may have been different.
As it was Hafeez and Shoaib Malik piled on the misery helped by another inexplicable own goal from England.
Five times this year an England bowler has taken a ‘wicket’ with a no ball and now Stuart Broad added his name to the undistinguished list.
Malik was on 40 when he drove loosely at Broad to Root at gully only to be reprieved when the bowler was found to have overstepped by a couple of centimetres. It was an agonising, exasperating moment for Broad and England.
How Pakistan and Malik made England pay, moving on to his first century since 2009 and ending unbeaten on 124 as England’s spinners in particular failed to exert the control that is the minimum expectation when times are tough.
Adil Rashid has waited a long time for his Test debut but the limitations in his game which have concerned England’s coaches of the past were evident as he looked nervous and was far too inaccurate to trouble Pakistan. – Daily Mail