If the pitch in Lahore turned slower than a jug of milk on the window-sill, then the one here is warming up nicely for a finale to this splendid Test match over the next few days.
Late wickets yesterday set England back when within sight of completing another excellent day's work, making the task harder to survive the match should Pakistan gain a first-innings lead and build on that sufficiently well to give themselves time to unleash their spinners in the fourth innings, when they would be expected to rule the roost.
England would ignore the threat posed by the Pakistan pacemen (or their own come to that) at their peril, though. Moin Khan had the main spinners Saqlain Mushtaq, Danish Kaneria and Arshad Khan wheeling away throughout the day from one end or the other with spells broken only by skillful bursts from Wasim Akram and Abdur Razzaq, both of whom reverse-swung the tatty old ball so alarmingly that it might have been hostage to some electromagnetic force in the stumps.
The second new ball, due shortly after lunch, was ignored so pointedly in favour of retaining control of the tempo of the England innings that it was not until gone four o'clock that it was summoned, with the shadows already lengthening.
England, at 266 for five, were well set with Graham Thorpe once more building the foundations of another hundred and Graeme Hick ready to cash in on a dropped catch, thinking not just of parity on first innings but a significant lead and the opportunity to exert pressure on the opposition.
Just 19 deliveries after Steve Bucknor had taken the new Kookaburra from his pocket, removed the polythene wrapper and tossed it to Wasim, such ambitions had been blasted into oblivion.
In quick succession the great left-armer swung one through Thorpe's obdurate defence with the last ball of his second over of the spell, Hick hooked the next delivery, from Razzaq, high to deep square-leg where Yousuf Youhana took a fine tumbling catch, and three balls later Ashley Giles edged a short ball low to second slip where Shahid Afridi was confident that he had held an excellent catch and, after some deliberation, the second umpire concurred.
Craig White and Andy Caddick survived to the close, four overs short of a full day again because of the fading light, but at 282 for eight, a deficit still of 34, a good position had been squandered.
Until the late setback, the determination of the England batsmen to ensure a lead at the cost of any frippery or flamboyance had held the day. From 110 for three overnight, Thorpe and the night watchman Ian Salisbury got their heads down during the two-hour morning session, and survived with reasonable comfort in adding 72.
The senior batsman, when 12, could consider himself fortunate to have survived an appeal for a catch at the wicket off Saqlain, the ball looping up from bat and pad, and Salisbury was missed by Moin off Arshad's off-spin shortly before the interval.
In fact the afternoon was 40 minutes old - and Thorpe, with a bristling lofted off-drive, had just completed his half-century - before Pakistan claimed their first success of the day, Salisbury propping forward one more time to Arshad and popping a catch up to silly point. He had played diligently though for almost three hours for his 33, the 97 he and Thorpe added for the fourth wicket going a long way to repairing the damage inflicted the previous evening.
