It was a glorious summer’s day: a cloudless sky meant constant sunlight, which usually seemed to be shining in the eyes of the English fielders confronted by a red orb heading in their direction.
At least Alex Hales in the gully managed to get his hands in front of his face in protection while preoccupied with the injustices of life as an opening batsman – unless he was dozing when he dropped the first catch. For it was mostly a soporific sort of day. Just before tea, as Steven Finn ran in to bowl, Stuart Broad down at long leg tried to rouse the crowd into pretending that they were witnessing an Olympic high jumper about to set off or Andy Murray at Wimbledon in a spot of bother. But their response was, at best, half-hearted.
Instead they continued to bask in the sunshine, they carried on their conversations with the cricket a pleasing, occasionally absorbing backdrop. It was not always going frightfully well for England. But it was a lovely day. After tea Broad left them to their own devices. Pakistan like these conditions: a dry sunny day and a dry runny pitch. They serenely gleaned their harvest – at least until the advent of the second new ball.
They had shuffled their order after the dropping of Mohammed Hafeez. The young thirtysomethings had been promoted. Azhar Ali opened the batting; Asad Shafiq was on the card at No3 for the first time in his 45-match Test career – though he ended up at No4 after the use of a nightwatchman. Only then came the older thirtysomething: Younis Khan is 38.
Here was a hint of the new order, the time when Azhar and Shafiq must form the backbone of the batting lineup. Both have fine records, averaging more than 40; both were accomplished on Friday with the assistance of England’s buttered fingers.
Once Azhar timed a backward defensive so well that the ball sped through midwicket for four. Little Shafiq was busy and impish. Like many short batsmen he requires only a little width to pop the ball to the square‑cover boundary; anything overpitched was driven clinically through the gaps.
Yet Younis was the most captivating of the Pakistan batsmen. This was partly because of the realisation that this great player, now playing his 108th Test with an average hovering around 53, will not be around for much longer.
Younis is seldom described as an elegant player but he can be a mesmerising one. There is a lot of movement when he is at the crease. He has a substantial trigger movement back and across. Sometimes he pirouettes on his back foot as he completes his shot but without the flourish of Pietersen’s flamingo stroke. It is not there to get marks for artistic impression; it just happens.
Once his shot is complete he invariably scurries down the pitch in pursuit of a run, whether one is available or not.
This must be disconcerting for new team‑mates. The current ones recognise that this is not a blanket invitation to run. By now Younis often resembles a slender, sinewy teenager somehow tossed into a Test as he carefully plants his bat in the crease after completing a run. At the close on Friday he had scored his 32nd Test century for Pakistan but it looks as if he still treasures every run. After all the years as a Test batsman, 17 of them, he remains restless, hungry and devoted to the cause.
Yet this has been an odd series for Younis. Friday’s innings of 101 was his highest of the series by a long way. In the first three Tests he reached 25 four times without ever scoring more than 33. Now this is an oddity for an old player.
The more common pattern among great batsmen heading towards their dotage is that they fail more often – perhaps the eyes do not acclimatise so quickly or maybe they do not have the energy for hours of dutiful reconnaissance – but once established they know how to capitalise with a big score. This was the case with Sunil Gavaskar, Viv Richards and Steve Waugh in their later years.
In this series Younis has grafted without much reward – until Friday’s innings. In the final session he was back to being skittish, happily employing sweeps reverse and orthodox to Moeen Ali’s off-stump deliveries as well as skipping down to loft him for the statutory six over long-on. By then Shafiq, responding eagerly to his new responsibilities after his pair at Edgbaston batting at No6, had blunted the England bowlers for a while. At last it was time for Younis to make merry.
