The Shorter Wisden 2013 (52 page)

Anderson 30–7–71–2; Tremlett 21–6–53–0; Broad 31–8–84–3; Swann 29.5–3–107– 4; Trott
8–2–16–1.
Second innings
—Anderson 2–1–7–0; Broad 1.4–1–8–0.

Umpires: B. F. Bowden and B. N. J. Oxenford. Third umpire: S. J. Davis. Referee: J. Srinath.

PAKISTAN v ENGLAND

Second Test Match

G
EORGE
D
OBELL

At Abu Dhabi, January 25–28, 2012. Pakistan won by 72 runs. Toss: Pakistan.

Nobody remembers the first 90% of the voyage of the
Titanic
. They forget the prompt departure, excellent catering and swift progress across the north Atlantic. No, all anyone talks
about is that unfortunate incident with the iceberg.

So it proved with this Test. By the end, few recalled England’s excellent bowling; the dogged 139-run stand between Cook and Trott that seemed to have put them in charge; Broad’s
counter-attacking half-century; or Panesar’s six second-innings wickets, in his first Test since July 2009.

Instead, it was all about England’s fourth innings. Set 145 to win, they did not even make it halfway, capitulating for 72 to go 2–0 down with one to play. It was comfortably their
lowest total against Pakistan, outdoing 130 at The Oval in 1954, in the first series between these sides, and again at Lahore in 1987-88. It was England’s lowest Test score since 51 in
Jamaica in February 2009. And it was only the second time in more than a century they had lost chasing a target under 150.

Whichever way you looked at it, this was a shocking reverse for a team playing their first series since whitewashing India to go top of the Test rankings in August 2011. It was the first time
they had lost successive Tests since hosting South Africa in 2008, and their first series defeat in ten, dating back to that 2008-09 tour of the West Indies. Records tumbled as quickly as
wickets.

Perhaps it should not have come as a huge surprise. England’s record in Asia promised little: excluding Bangladesh, and including the game in Dubai, they had won only one of their last 18
Tests there. Meanwhile, Pakistan had won six of their previous eight Tests and were unbeaten in six series – including a one-off Test against Zimbabwe – following the tumultuous summer
of 2010. Under the captaincy of Misbah-ul-Haq and the genial guidance of interim coach Mohsin Khan, they had developed into a decent side in any conditions, and an excellent one in the UAE.

Abu Dhabi is the driest Test ground in the world, a fact which, combined with injuries to Chris Tremlett and Tim Bresnan, persuaded England to select two specialist spinners, something they had
done only once since July 2009. Even more unusually, those two – Swann and Panesar – formed half of a four-man attack. England had not employed a configuration of two fast and two slow
bowlers since Kandy in 2003-04.

From a bowling perspective, the tactic worked. Despite losing an important toss, England used the ball with impressive control on a low surface which snared 29 batsmen bowled or lbw – a
record for any Test. Broad, in particular, maintained a wonderfully nagging line and length, and the spinners gained turn from the start as Pakistan slipped to 103 for four. If Anderson, normally
so reliable, had held a relatively simple chance at slip off Panesar when Misbah was 30, England might have taken an unassailable advantage.

It proved a costly miss. While his colleagues were provoked into errors by England’s persistence, Misbah played with discipline and denial, adding 100 with Asad Shafiq. But it was not all
grim attrition: when the field was in, Misbah twice lofted Panesar for successive sixes – with his third and fourth scoring shots and, just as improbably, in the last over of the day. Though
Shafiq tarnished his innings with a wild sweep, the value of their partnership became apparent when his wicket was the first of six to go for only 54, the final three falling on the second morning
at the same score.

Strauss went early but, during the 50 overs in which Cook and Trott were compiling England’s highest stand of the series, it seemed they would build a match-defining cushion. Trott,
though, was bowled by a beauty from Abdur Rehman that turned past his outside edge, and Cook was defeated by Ajmal’s doosra, six runs short of a 20th Test hundred. The middle order flopped
again, and it required Broad’s belligerence – he faced only 62 balls – to give England a handy lead of 70.

That looked as if it would be enough when Pakistan slipped to 54 for four second time round. Panesar troubled all the batsmen with sharp turn and, had Pietersen hit with an underarm throw from
ten feet and with all three stumps to aim at, Shafiq would have been run out for 26. Instead he and Azhar Ali, two of Pakistan’s younger brigade, demonstrated real composure to add 88. The
run-rate barely passed two an over, and Azhar’s 68 spanned four and a quarter hours, but at least they helped Pakistan eke out a lead of 144: not much to bowl at, but enough to set minds
racing – on both sides.

Then came the iceberg. England, paralysed with fear and uncertainty, never gained momentum. Struggling to pick the length because of the remarkable pace of Pakistan’s spinners, and wary of
missing anything on their stumps on another sluggish pitch, they remained rooted to the crease. Thus encouraged, the bowlers exerted a suffocating grip: Cook’s seven occupied 15 overs before
he gifted a leading edge back to the off-spin of Mohammad Hafeez, opening the bowling and evidently a specialist against the left-handers; Strauss’s 32 took 29 overs. When he was fifth out,
at 56, the end was nigh.

Already gone were Bell, deceived for the third time in the series by Ajmal’s doosra, plus Pietersen and Morgan, both beaten by Rehman deliveries that skidded on. Trott, batting down the
order because of a stomach bug, and Broad were soon defeated by the acute turn of Rehman, who wrapped things up when Anderson swung to deep midwicket. The last five wickets had tumbled in 11 balls,
while the waspish, relentless Rehman finished with a career-best six for 25. Only seven men – Charlie Turner, Monty Noble, Aubrey Faulkner, Gerry Hazlitt, Ray Lindwall, Malcolm Marshall and
Curtly Ambrose – had taken six or more wickets in a Test innings against England for so few runs. And, with Prior’s dismissal, Ajmal became the quickest Pakistan player to 100 Test
victims, in his 19th game. Between them, Pakistan’s spin trio had claimed 19 wickets.

Seven batsmen failed to score more than a single in England’s final collapse, matching the team’s humiliation at Kingston in February 2009, their first Test with Strauss and Flower
in charge, and only one short of the Test record of eight, when England dismissed New Zealand for 26 at Auckland in 1954-55. No wonder Strauss said it was “a struggle to think of a loss that
has hurt more”.

Man of the Match:
Abdur Rehman.

Anderson 19.4–5–46–2; Broad 24–4–47–4; Panesar 33–9–91–1; Swann 18–2–52–3; Trott
2–0–12–0.
Second innings
—Anderson 14–3–39–1; Broad 20–9–36–1; Panesar 38.2–18–62–6; Swann
27–5–66–2.

Umar Gul 13–1–53–1; Junaid Khan 8–0–33–0; Mohammad Hafeez 22–4–54–3; Saeed Ajmal 40–6–108–4; Abdur
Rehman 29–9–67–2.
Second innings
—Mohammad Hafeez 8–3–11–1; Umar Gul 3–0–5–0; Saeed Ajmal 15–7–22–3; Abdur
Rehman 10.1–4–25–6.

Umpires: S. J. Davis and B. N. J. Oxenford. Third umpire: B. F. Bowden. Referee: J. Srinath.

PAKISTAN v ENGLAND

Third Test Match

P
AUL
N
EWMAN

At Dubai, February 3–6, 2012. Pakistan won by 71 runs. Toss: Pakistan.

It seemed appropriate that the Third Test, which produced Pakistan’s first clean sweep over England, should end on a referred lbw decision. The DRS, and the way it was implemented by the
officials, had been a leitmotif of the Tests – so much so that the demise of Panesar was the 43rd lbw in all, an unprecedented number in a three-match series. His forlorn decision to ask for
a referral felt like an afterthought, which seemed about right: for the final three days of this game, England had been decidedly off the pace.

Played, like the First Test, at the near-deserted Dubai Sports City Stadium, this one outdid even the previous two for unpredictability. England were left to wonder how they could have dismissed
Pakistan for 99 on the first day and still lose. Only twice before – in the Ashes-spawning Oval Test of 1882, and South Africa’s first win, at the Old Wanderers in 1905-06 – had
they suffered defeat after bowling out a team in their first innings in double figures.

There were two simple reasons for the result. England, their brains now well and truly scrambled by Pakistani spin, mustered only 141 in their reply, when conditions for batting were at their
best; and they were unable to separate Azhar Ali and Younis Khan during a second-innings stand of 216 that seemed to mock the loss of 22 wickets for 268 which preceded it. Azhar and Younis might
have been playing a different game.

At lunch on the first day, however, which Pakistan took shortly after slipping to 44 for seven, it looked as if England would finish with a consolation win. Led by the excellent Broad, who
bowled with Glenn McGrath-like accuracy and hostility for four wickets, they allowed only Asad Shafiq to settle. At the time, his mature 45 out of an eventual total of 99 felt like a futile lone
hand. But by the end of the day, with England listing once more at 104 for six, Shafiq’s innings was assuming match-winning proportions.

The opening skirmishes were not a triumph for Simon Taufel. Long regarded as one of the best umpires in the world, he saw three of his decisions overturned by the DRS on his first day in the
series. While 16 wickets were tumbling, seven of them to spin, it felt as if the old tradition of giving the batsman the benefit of the doubt – a tacit understanding, admittedly, rather than
a Law – was being confined to history.

Pietersen certainly thought so. His problems with the spinners had – despite his denials – almost certainly been exacerbated by his concerns about the DRS, and now Taufel adjudged
him leg-before to Abdur Rehman when technology showed the ball was barely clipping leg stump. Even the fact that he had fallen once more to a left-arm spinner, for the 22nd time in Tests, was
overshadowed by his evident displeasure at the decision. If Pietersen felt it was guesswork, Taufel had been technically vindicated – although Pietersen claimed he later received an apology
from the umpire, himself believed to be no great fan of the DRS. The episode did little to dissuade those who thought the technology risked turning batting, especially on slow pitches, into
something of a lottery. With Rehman – bowling wicket to wicket and spearing the ball in – claiming a second successive haul of five or more, England’s lead was kept down to a far
from formidable 42.

Now, finally, the series was to see a demonstration of proper Test batting, a display of how to nullify spin – and with it the DRS – by using bat rather than pad, both in defence and
attack. Suddenly the pace and nature of the game changed perceptibly as Younis, the old master, joined Azhar, who had made only 94 skittish runs in his previous four innings. As if in defiance of
this, he now demonstrated infinite patience and application, compiling a monumental 157 off 442 balls in seven minutes short of nine hours.

Younis complemented Azhar’s substance with his own elegant style, putting together his 20th Test hundred, after a quiet series. When they were finally parted, Pakistan had gone a
considerable way towards completing the whitewash. Their total of 365 left England a target of 324, a damning 132 more than they had managed in four of their five innings thus far.

What followed at least regained a modicum of respectability, as Strauss and Cook began with 48 before Strauss played back to Abdur Rehman. Then Saeed Ajmal struck three times either side of
lunch on the fourth day, his victims including Cook, who had been becalmed during a four-hour 49, but became the second-youngest batsman, at 27 years 43 days, to reach 6,000 Test runs; only Sachin
Tendulkar (26 years 313 days) had got there earlier.