Three days into the first Test in Abu Dhabi and, thus far, it has proved a pitch to make the bowlers ponder a career change. For the 813 runs scored across the nine sessions, only 11 wickets have fallen – with none to the spinners – making it a battle of concentration for the batsmen above all else.
England knew it would be hard yakka going into the series, of course. Their batting consultant, Mahela Jayawardene, had spoken to the players about the need to find their bubble and block out the sapping effects of the desert heat that can see the mind wander and allow mistakes to creep in.
For Ian Bell, that bubble burst early on day one. He shelled the opener Mohammad Hafeez at second slip only seven runs into his 98 before, in the penultimate over, an even simpler chance off Asad Shafiq went down to give the Pakistan No6 a life from which he did not look back in a 107 that helped set up a huge first-innings total for his side.
And so, when Bell entered the fray with nine overs of the third morning remaining he sat some 188 runs in debit on a personal level; the latest instalment to a year of frustrating underachievement and one in which he himself has questioned whether, following his fifth Ashes series win, it was time to step aside.
For a batsman able to produce seemingly effortless innings that are seeped in gloss, you can understand why the thought crossed his mind. Eight scores of nought or one have followed since he made 143 in Antigua, an innings that suggested 2015 would yield a bumper harvest. Past glories, and his 114 caps of experience in a youthful set-up, kept it as his decision.
Here, for his first 35 balls since opting to plough on, it could easily have been another binary day. His first delivery from Imran Khan, after the England opener Moeen Ali had edged the right-armer behind on 35, nibbled the bat and dropped short of slip. A more flush defensive shot followed before another edge, this time off the inside of the blade, got him off the mark.
Pakistan then provided a cage of close catchers for him as the left-armer Zulfiqar Babar twirled away. Every ball become an event. Stuck at the spinner’s end, Bell’s third over facing this 36-year-old produced his one genuine reprieve as a bat-pad catch flew to Shan Masood at silly point but did not stick.
The struggle proved infectious, with he and the previously fluent Cook adding only six runs in 40 minutes before lunch. The England captain played in front of his pad for a more solid defence, with Bell wedding the two together to keep those around the bat vocally keener and the visiting support quietly praying.
As the afternoon wore on, the battle slowly got easier. The right-hander, whose memories of the 2012 series are among his more harrowing in Test cricket after he averaged eight, grew in confidence and his bubble reformed as he eschewed his trademark drives to play the obdurate role some forget he has in him.
But with 20 minutes to go, and with 198 balls already negotiated, it popped once more as a flashing drive to the left-arm quick Wahab Riaz flew to point. With 63 to his name Bell trudged off, later admitting that a 23rd Test century was there for the taking after almost five hours of self-denial with only five boundaries struck.
To expect the 33-year-old to have wiped off the deficit from his two dropped catches was probably asking too much. He did, however, go past his meagre 51-run haul from the series three years ago and provide the required support role for Cook’s eighth Asian masterpiece.
The road of a pitch looks set to strangle the life out of this Test but in digging deep on another sweltering day in the desert, Bell went some way towards repaying the team.
