THE second Test between England and Pakistan, as expected, meandered to a draw here yesterday. Once England had failed to take the initiative on the first morning it was always going to be a difficult game for them to win.

But having batted themselves first of all to safety on the third day and then into the lead on Monday, they still had the vaguest of chances yesterday.

However a victory depended on some incisive bowling and although the seamers, in particular Andrew Caddick and Dominick Cork, operated more effectively second time around, Pakistan were never in any real danger of collapse and with half centuries from Ijaz Ahmed and Inzamamul-Haq reached 247 for seven, a lead of 196 when Wasim Akram declared and the teams called it a day.

There is something vaguely familiar about the way this series is panning out. Two years ago, South Africa won the first test at Lords and then played out a draw at Leeds. What followed in the final match at the Oval of course is legend as Devon Malcolm produced one of the most destructive spells ever of test match bowling to level the series.

England will now be required to repeat that win to share the spoils in this series and will go to the last test of the summer in good heart after a resilient batting performance here. Although relaying the Headingley pitch has strangled the life out of it and batting turned out to be easier than might have been anticipated, much, nonetheless, has fallen into place in this game.

Stewart's century, which brought him the man of the match award, showed that his feet are moving him into position better than at any time over the past two years, while the vitality and confidence shown both by Nick Knight and John Crawley was a revelation.

The selectors now have a dilemma on their hands, however, for if they are to have a chance of winning at the Oval they need all the bowling they can get. If a batsman has to drop out it will be either Crawley or Knight and by no means is it clear cut that the latter would retain his place purely on the basis that he had made a century.

Certainly Knight's left handedness helped to counter the threat of Waqar Younis in particular but there is a belief that Crawley is the only one in the England side who can read Mushtaq's leg spin.

Nor will the performance of the bowlers in this match have made selection for the next any easier. Yesterday, Cork bowled his best spell of the match up the hill from the Football Stand end, gaining some rhythm and late movement, and he collected the wicket of Saeed Anwar, caught behind the wicket off his second delivery.

But with Darren Gough and, one never knows, Malcolm waiting in the wings, it was Caddick who did most to stake a claim for the next match, striding stiffly down the slope and taking the wickets of Inzamam, Salim Malik and Ijiz at a cost of 52 runs. His bounce and occasional hostility on a docile pitch would be amplified by the Oval surface. Lewis is the most likely to be rejected.

One player who is certain not to be relied upon as a front line bowler is the England captain, Atherton, although when the game was entering its death throes he tugged off his cap and bowled seven overs of respectable leg spin.

Given the state of his back, bowling is low down on his list of priorities, and he had not turned his arm over in a test match since Sydney in 1991, some months before he had spinal fusion One wicket for 282 had been his career figures before yesterday and one good clump would have lifted him ahead of the Sri Lankan Wijesuriya as having the worst average in Test history.

That was spoilt when Wasim offered no stroke to the most gentle of leg breaks and after long deliberation was given out leg before wicket by Steve Bucknor.

It was Inzaman who played the innings of the day, in much the same languid manner that had graced Lords. At times he lived dangerously, such as when he spliced Caddick over the slips, but some thunderous strokes brought him nine boundaries in all, including a hook off Caddick that almost defeated the eye. In the same over, however, he top-edged an attempted cut and Stewart took a straightforward catch at third man.

The last day had been watched by a small gathering rather than a crowd and it provided a contrast to the drunken debacle of the weekend when the behaviour of the Western Terrace once more put in jeopardy the future of international cricket at Headingley.

Limiting the amount of alcohol that can be brought into the ground is only a part solution and merely leads to larger bar profits for the Leeds Cricket Football and Athletic Company. A complete ban seems more realistic.

However, the new England Cricket Board will need to look long and hard at its sponsors. Tetley put around £1 million a year into the England team, but it is scarcely morally right for cricket to encourage people to drink and then criticise their behaviour when they get drunk.