England wary of the easy route
Andrew Miller's England view from the third day at Multan
Andrew Miller
14-Nov-2005
|
|
England aren't accustomed to doing things the easy way. Their Ashes
victory was a long-drawn-out, agonisingly incremental affair, while their
tour of South Africa last winter involved an innings defeat at Cape Town
and two near-misses either side, at Durban and Johannesburg. They won the
second of those and should have won the first, but could also have lost
the lot. As a rule, they like to sail as close to the wind as possible,
which makes for thrilling viewing, but no shortage of uncomfortable
moments along the way.
After two days of intensely serene progress from England, today they found
themselves pushed back onto the ropes as Pakistan relocated the spirit
that had been sapped during their first-innings collapse. At 266 for 3,
with Marcus Trescothick entrenched on a blameless batting strip, England
had visions of a 500-plus total and maybe even an innings victory against
a side prone to demoralisation. Instead, Pakistan chipped and chivvied,
then batted with aplomb, to haul themselves right back into contention.
Minus-19 for 2 overnight is not parity by any means, but Danish Kaneria
awaits on a wearing wicket, and nothing can be taken for granted by
England.
"We've given ourselves a chance," said Trescothick afterwards, with less
feeling than he might have otherwise have mustered, after seven-and-a-half
hours of deliberate and indomitable brilliance. "Pakistan have got a long
tail, so if we can get three or four tomorrow morning and get into it
quick, it gives us an advantage." Given the current ennui in the pitch,
Trescothick believed a target of 250 was attainable, but if Kaneria finds
any grip early on in the fourth innings, then England would not fancy chasing much
more than 200.
Aside from Trescothick, who added 58 more to his overnight 135, it was a
day of bit-part performances from England. Andrew Flintoff promised a
reprise of his Trent Bridge phlegm before giving his wicket away when
beautifully set, while Trescothick's second dose of the nervous 190s (he
made 194 against Bangladesh in June) left an otherwise reliable tail
exposed to the new ball. It needed the late intervention of Flintoff, this
time with the ball, to ensure that the initiative had not been entirely
squandered by the close.
For Flintoff, it was just business as usual in what has been a talismanic year. He was
entrusted with the new ball ahead of Steve Harmison because he alone in
the side can provide brutal aggression and metronomic discipline in equal
measures, just as he had earlier been entrusted with the good health of
England's innings, after their slump to 271 for 5. It is a mark of the man
that he can already have contributed five wickets and a 45 to England's
cause, and still the bulk of his work is to be done.
|
|
Flintoff's promotion, in fact, meant the resumption of a familiar old
pairing for England's new ball. At Ahmedabad and Bangalore four long years
ago, he and Matthew Hoggard were the rookies entrusted with the onerous
task of shackling India's strokemakers, as Nasser Hussain carried his
cajoling style of captaincy to new heights. It was there they both learned
the virtues of patience, and as Pakistan's lead begins to gather tomorrow
afternoon, both men can be expected to dredge their prior experience from
their memory banks.
Experience is something that Kevin Pietersen, for all his derring-do and
air of a seasoned campaigner, currently lacks; his stiff-wristed
dismissal today - caught at short leg off Kaneria for 5 - was alarming for
its familiarity. It was like watching Flintoff himself on that very same
tour in 2001-02, when he prodded and poked his way to 26 runs in five
innings, perpetually tortured by Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble.
A masterclass from Shane Warne this summer has equipped England's batsmen
with more tools for tackling legspin than they have ever before taken to
the subcontinent. It is for that reason that they remain solid favourites
with two days to go. But we've seen enough close squeaks in the past 12
months to surmise that, if there's a tricky route to be taken, England are as likely as not to sound it out.
Andrew Miller is UK editor of Cricinfo