CRICKET:SAY WHAT you like about the umpire decision review system (and many do), it certainly moves the game on these days.
Wickets tumbled here, 16 of them, and the lbw count rose ever higher like a stock exchange bull market: a further nine yesterday to go with the 26 already accumulated to the umpires’ fickle finger in the first two Tests.
The third umpire was the busiest man in the ground so thick and fast did appeals and reviews come: at this rate UDRS is a shoo-in for man of the series.
By the close, England held an advantage but, at 104 for six in response to Pakistan’s 99 all out, it was a most tenuous one on a first day that appeared to get ever more frenetic as it wore on.
When Misbah-ul-Haq made the decision to bat first on a pitch said to be drier than the last one here on which England were dismissed cheaply on the first day, he would not have foreseen the movement and occasional bounce that Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson managed for England.
By lunch, his team were floundering at 57 for seven. An hour and a quarter later, Anderson cleaned out Umar Gul and Pakistan were all out, the fourth time in the past 12 innings England have dismissed them in double figures, Broad taking four for 36, Anderson, who began the slide in the first over, three for 35, and Monty Panesar two for 25.
Only when Andrew Strauss and Kevin Pietersen were adding 57 for the third wicket did batting appear anything less than mental torture.
But Pietersen, having made 32, with four good boundaries, became another victim of UDRS, much to his chagrin, and one had to sympathise.
The original decision by Simon Taufel, one of the most respected of international umpires, could have been nothing more than guesswork, but was backed up on “umpires’ call” by the slenderest predicted contact with the top of leg stump.
Around this partnership it was mayhem once again. Alastair Cook, in what was a retro-dismissal, hung his bat out to Gul and was well caught behind, and Jonathan Trott was deemed lbw to the same bowler. He chose not to review it, presumably on the advice of Strauss, and had he done so would have been reprieved.
Pietersen’s dismissal brought in Ian Bell, who made five runs in a 28-ball stay and was then beaten by a Saeed Ajmal doosra. Dragging his back leg, he was stumped – just – by a rebound from the gloves of Adnan Akmal.
England had decided to back the side that lost in Abu Dhabi, which meant Eoin Morgan retaining his place. The Dubliner looked to be playing more naturally than during his desperate efforts of the first two Tests, with one sweet natural swing of the bat depositing Ajmal over the long-on boundary for six.
For a brief moment it appeared as if the shackles had been broken. Then, on the back foot, he tried to whip Abdur Rehman’s left-arm spin through square leg, was struck on the pads, and on review by Pakistan, Taufel was shown to be in error once more.
When Matt Prior was bowled by Rehman, maybe looking for the arm ball into his pads, England were still a run adrift and six down.
Pakistan won the toss and decided to bat first.
PAKISTAN – first innings:
T Umar lbw b Anderson 0
A Ali c Prior b Broad 1
Y Khan c Prior b Broad 4
Misbah-ul-Haq lbw b Anderson 1
A Shafiq lbw b Panesar 45
A Akmal lbw b Broad 6
A Rehman c Pietersen b Swann 1
S Ajmal lbw b Panesar 12
U Gul b Anderson 13
A Cheema not out 0
Extras (lb 3) 3
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Total (all out; 44.1 ovs) 99
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-8, 3-18, 4-21, 5-21, 6-39, 7-44, 8-78, 9-85.
Bowling: Anderson 14.1-3-35-3, Broad 16-5-36-4, Panesar 13-4-25-2, Swann 1-1-0-1.
ENGLAND – first innings
A Strauss not out 41
A Cook c Adnan Akmal b Umar Gul 1
J Trott lbw b Umar Gul 2
K Pietersen lbw b Abdur Rehman 32
I Bell st Adnan Akmal b Saeed Ajmal 5
E Morgan lbw b Abdur Rehman 10
M Prior b Abdur Rehman 6
J Anderson not out 3
Extras (b 1, lb 3) 4
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Total (for six wickets; 43 ovs) 104
Still to bat: S Broad, G Swann, M Panesar.
Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-7, 3-64, 4-75, 5-88, 6-98.
Bowling: Umar Gul 7-1-28-2, Aizaz Cheema 4-0-9-0, Saeed Ajmal 17-5-40-1, Abdur Rehman 15-4-23-3.
Umpires: S Taufel (Aus) and S Davis (Aus).
