Whatever induced Adil Rashid to play that final shot? He had batted beautifully for 171 balls, with great maturity and judgment at total odds with his brief first innings, and then, on the 172nd, with the finishing line in sight, he cracked.
Did the Pakistan fielders, seven of them round the bat, finally get to him? It cannot have been that he saw easy runs, for they were an irrelevance and he had turned down plenty in the previous overs to stay on strike against Wahab Riaz.
It was totally correct, too, to keep the last man, Jimmy Anderson, away from Wahab, and let him play the spinner. But then the manner in which a player responds to the pressure situation is what defines any top-class sportsman or woman. Rashid can be proud of everything leading up to that last delivery, but it is the errant drive to cover that will haunt him.
It was not Rashid’s error that cost them the game, however. Saving the game, in the circumstances, would have been the longest of long odds, and with only two wickets left at tea, it really was a matter of time. They did brilliantly well to hang on as long as they did, taking Pakistan into an anxiety zone. But the game was thrown away by an abject batting display on the third morning.
This correspondent, call it gut feeling or experience if you will, firmly believed after two days that Pakistan were already in control, but even then could not anticipate the nature of the collapse that saw the last seven first-innings wickets fall for 36, so that where England may have started the day with parity or better in mind, they found themselves with a deficit of 130. The pitch never actually got any more helpful for spinners thereafter, except out of the rough, but there was really no way back from that.
It was ever thus. On England’s last visit the side contained four bowlers of world-class, yet they were whitewashed because of utterly inept batting. This time two of those bowlers, Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar, have gone, but the batting, albeit not against Saeed Ajmal in particular, has started to find its feet.
Alastair Cook and Joe Root, the latter returned to the top of the batting rankings, have been outstanding, and the manner in which Ben Stokes, for example, suddenly seemed to twig how to play the spin, was instructive. If they learned anything from the second innings, it is that patience rather than bombast is a virtue in such conditions: England have never scored more fourth-innings runs in Asia. Now they need to translate the fourth-innings attitude to their first effort. It may not be pretty but it will be more effective.
For all that, Pakistan have had two bowlers in Wahab and Yasir Shah, who have put England under constant pressure with the ball, backed up well by Imran Khan, not to be underestimated, and Zulfiqar Babar’s left arm spin.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan batsmen have adopted a very clear strategy of taking few chances against the England seamers, while clambering into the spinners, who they see as the weak link, especially in the first innings when Moeen Ali and Rashid have combined figures of four for 476 at an economy rate of 4.36 runs per over. England almost sneaked a win in Abu Dhabi but that would have been very much against the head. Matches need to be set up in the first innings, and this England have not done.
Now comes a personal view, that irrespective of the batting, they have not given themselves the best chance with the ball by attempting to adhere to a template that they adopted last time and which Pakistan themselves use now.
In other words, they have been trying to fit players into a strategy rather than playing to their strengths. Last time, with Swann and, for two Tests, Panesar, the so-called balanced attack was without doubt the way to go.
Their strengths now lie elsewhere. To illustrate, let’s have a look at the successful bowlers in the UAE since Pakistan made it their permanent base in 2010.
It is visiting seam bowlers who predominate, with Anderson (16 at 23.93), Broad (15 at 26.6), Dale Steyn (14 at 32.78), Shaminda Eranga (12 at 28.75), Suranga Lakmal (12 at 47.33, an anomaly), and Chanaka Welegedara (11 at 25.00), the only ones to take 10 or more wickets.
They do so at respective strike rates of 65, 69, 65, 65, 90(Lakmal again), and 60, and economy rates of 2.19, 2.31, 3.01, 2.64, 3.14, and 2.49. Of visiting spinners, only Rangana Herath, with 24, stands above Panesar and Swann, who have 14 and 13 apiece, although the New Zealander Mark Craig took 10 in the match in Sharjah played out in the immediate aftermath of the death of Phillip Hughes, and with little heart in it.
In their only series, Swann averaged 25.07, and Panesar 21.57, their respective economy rates at 2.83 and 2.14, and strike rates of 53 and 60.
So the argument becomes apparent. England are attacking this from the wrong angle. Even if Pakistan have just been determined to see off the seamers, they have still been the ones taking first-innings wickets. To this end, for the final Test in Sharjah from Sunday, England should abandon the idea of competing with spin, and concentrate on what they do best. This means that one of Moeen or Rashid has to go, and for matters of expedience in this series it cannot be Moeen.
The excellent runs scored by Rashid should not camouflage what his primary job has been, and he, as with Moeen, has just been too profligate and unproductive when it mattered. Replace him then with Liam Plunkett, who would add height and pace to the ubiquitous skills of Anderson and Broad, Wood’s skiddy enthusiasm, and the optimistic endeavour of Stokes. Five seamers, 22 overs each with Moeen and Root if necessary.
There has to be a shift in the batting, too. Jos Buttler’s keeping and batting have reached a nadir, one impacting on the other and he needs time out now. For the final Test, Jonny Bairstow should keep wicket and move down the order either to No6 or No7, and James Taylor should come in instead of Buttler.
It might not make for eye-catching cricket, and the over-rate could struggle, but it will be more effective. Just consider which attack Pakistan would least like to face and you have your criterion.
