This was a challenging match for England to finish their preparations: maverick opposition, on a full-sized ground and with a used pitch. It was Pakistan who emerged the better from the encounter, beating England by four wickets.
Asked to make 251, Pakistan were reduced to 78 for four before the 23rd over was out. But the England bowlers then succumbed to a fifth-wicket partnership of 133 between Misbah-ul-Haq and Umar Akmal that took them to within sight of victory.
Akmal was eventually out to Stuart Broad – England’s most effective bowler, surging in to bowl with his best rhythm and urgency for ages – for 65, with three fours and as many sixes. But Misbah, batting with great skill, saw the game through, to the enormous joy of the hundreds of Pakistan supporters packed into those stands that were open, finishing unbeaten on 91 from 99 balls. There were seven balls remaining when Shahid Afridi powered the winning boundary head high through the hands of Jimmy Anderson at mid-off.
That is as far as England can go now in their playing preparation. On Saturday it is showtime.
Here they had no answer to a partnership which employed careful accumulation, with hard running, making use of the open spaces afforded by the boundary ropes being pushed back as far as possible, and then attacking the boundaries themselves to great effect later. Sixes were hit, but they had to be properly struck, a reward for excellence.
In the field Pakistan had been flaky at times, but the bowling, both pace and spin, was excellent, particularly at both ends of the innings where the seamers were outstanding. England relied largely on a carefully compiled 57 from Gary Ballance, making his first appearance since recovering from injury, and an excellent 85 from Joe Root, with help from a robust Chris Jordan at the end.
This was not an easy surface on which to judge a par score. This was the same pitch as used for the match against West Indies two days previously, and little enough evidence emerged from that. It had lost its green tinge too, and the overcast conditions had been replaced by blue skies and searing sun. England decided to bat first, presumably on the understanding that with a second use it was sure to deteriorate with some erratic bounce.
England decided to rest Ian Bell and James Taylor, two of the top three in the order, and give a run-out to Alex Hales and Ballance, the latter restored to health after his finger fracture. If Hales was unlikely to make a case for an opening spot, with Bell and Moeen Ali providing a contrasting pair, then there was certainly an opportunity to be had for Ballance, who if he made decent runs and made them well could, even at this late stage, come into consideration for the No3 slot against Australia at the MCG, with Taylor moving down the order to replace Ravi Bopara. Or even for Ballance to bat at five, where he does for his county, and Eoin Morgan to move down.
The outcome was largely inconclusive. Hales, unable to find the width that allows him to free up his arms (Pakistan have done their homework there), was necessarily restrained and managed 31 from 47 balls, the kind of innings for which Alastair Cook was constantly criticised. For his part, Ballance acquitted himself better, playing himself in nicely, middling the ball well and playing it late, which is always a good sign, and completing a competent well-constructed half-century, with the prospect of pushing his run rate up later as he has done in the past for Yorkshire in particular.
That he was not able to was a pity, holing out as he did to deep midwicket as he smeared the brisk legspinner Yasir Shah. Bopara was unable to secure some runs for himself, scratching around for 25 balls before utterly misreading a top spinner or googly which slipped inside his drive and bowled him.
Before that, Morgan’s bizarre run of scores continued as he found yet another way to get out, this time attempting to paddle fine a slow full toss from Yasir, and succeeded only in getting some sort of top edge to slip. His last eight scores now read 5, 0, 4, 121, 0, 0, 0 and he will find himself facing Australia once more on a personal hat-trick.
The century is the telling figure, though, for it speaks of his capability, particularly in a knockout match. Cricketers are superstitious and some will perceive someone due a score rather than in bad form, but it is hard to view it that way at the moment.
So really it was down to Root, who compiled an excellent disciplined innings of a kind that comes from someone who has the experience to be able to assess what in his own mind is a competitive total on a surface and set out to achieve that rather than merely reaching for the stars and falling short, as often happens in that circumstance. If it was an unobtrusive knock then his 50 came from only 59 balls despite hitting just two boundaries.
He added another two fours and a six before attempting a high tariff reverse ramp shot to a deceptive slower ball from Sohail Khan and chipping a catch to short third man. His partnership of 60 with Jordan, who finished with an unbeaten 31 from 27 balls, had added some impetus to the innings at the right time.
