The final day of the first Test in Abu Dhabi was a crackerjack but the preceding four days, even containing as they did some remarkable feats of endurance, did few favours. As someone rightly pointed out, it was not a bad advertisement for Test cricket, simply because it was actually the real thing.
How that pitch was marked by the match referee, Andy Pycroft, has not been disclosed, but it would be a surprise if the International Cricket Council, whose headquarters are no more than a decent par four from the Dubai International Cricket Stadium where the second Test starts on Thursday, has not let it be known that more of the same is simply unacceptable. If the first Test was one of sheer drudgery for the bowlers, then the second is likely to offer some respite in the form of a pacier surface: seamers and spinners alike would be grateful for that.
Unlike the Zayed Stadium, wickets can tumble in Dubai, to seam and spin alike. Twice, in successive matches there, against England and South Africa, Pakistan have been bowled out for 99; only twice – in the last two matches, when Pakistan made 454 against Australia, and New Zealand scored 403 – have sides topped 400 in the first innings. The average first innings score over the eight matches staged since 2010 is 254 and only once, when South Africa, batting second, made 517 two years ago, has a side topped 500.
Clearly there is a better balance between bat and ball, with all types of bowling having some success: for England, who played two of their three Tests in the United Arab Emirates at the ground on their last tour, Stuart Broad, Jimmy Anderson, Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar all took wickets, albeit in a losing cause both times.
There was a contrasting mood in the two teams on leaving Abu Dhabi. England came so close to sneaking a win against the head, as it were, that they were not so much energised at having turned the game round as miffed that they were not actually able to close the match out. It was quite a change around in fortune, as Pakistan stumbled against Adil Rashid’s leg-spin on a pitch that was finally providing some assistance. Pakistan on the other hand came within a whisker of suffering a humiliating reversal after their final session batting implosion. It will have shaken them up.
Pakistan are likely to be less disgruntled for this match, however, with the return of their trump card leg-spinner Yasir Shah, the bowler having almost completely recovered from the back spasm he suffered before the first Test.
An administrative cock-up meant that no like-for-like replacement was available and so Misbah-ul-Haq was forced to field an extra seamer where he wanted a spinner. This time a substitute is here, Bilal Asif, an off-spinner albeit one whose action is under official scrutiny. The indications, though, are that Yasir, who has taken 61 wickets in his 10 Tests, will be fit, and is sure to provide more of a challenge to England than did the Pakistan finger spinners in Abu Dhabi. He will replace the seamer Rahat Ali. Yet again, however, they will miss the middle order batting of Azhar Ali, missing from the first Test because of a foot infection and whose second-innings century here last time pretty much secured the three-match whitewash for Pakistan. A family bereavement has meant his return to Pakistan and he will not be able to return in time.
In the aftermath of the first Test, England may well have considered making a small tweak to their side, pending of course a sighter of the Dubai pitch. In this case, the likeliest option would have been to omit Mark Wood and replace him with Samit Patel as a third spinner. Wood managed to generate some good pace, up there with Pakistan’s Wahab Riaz, but was unable to get the same measure of reverse swing, which is said to be one of his assets. However, the nature of the Dubai pitch means any temptation to tinker with the team will be resisted and they will go in with an unchanged side, with Ben Stokes, absent from practice two days before the game but in attendance for final practice, expected to have recovered fully from a stomach upset.
The challenge for the England batsmen, on a pitch that has tended not to turn so much as skid on, will be to keep their pads out of the way of the Pakistan spinners. Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman have thrived against England here and Yasir in particular will surely prove as dangerous as either.
With the ball themselves it is important that they do not let the Pakistan batsmen get away. Alastair Cook’s marathon kept his team afloat in the first Test but he cannot be expected to do it every time. Moeen Ali, with a Test century against Sri Lanka ( albeit at Headingley), Ian Bell and Joe Root, currently ranked second in the world behind Steve Smith, have established credentials, even if Bell appears to be fighting the twilight of his career. However, the lower middle order of Jonny Bairstow, Stokes and Jos Buttler still have much to prove when it comes to batting in Asian conditions.
This match seems destined not to end in a draw and England do have the resources to win. But they will need to do so from the front this time rather than try to burgle the match through the back door.
Matchzone
England (probable): Alastair Cook (capt), Moeen Ali, Joe Root, Ian Bell, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (wk), Adil Rashid, Stuart Broad, Mark Wood, Jimmy Anderson.
Pakistan (probable): Mohammad Hafeez, Shan Masood, Shoaib Malik, Younis Khan, Misbah ul-Haq (capt), Asad Shafiq, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Wahab Riaz, Zulfiqar Babar, Yasir Shah, Imran Khan.
Pitch: Expected to offer more pace for bowlers than that at Zayed Stadium. Tends to help spin and seam alike. Only once – Sri Lanka in January last year – has a side put the opposition in, and they bowled Pakistan out for 165, going on to win by nine wickets. This time, both sides will want to bat.
