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ABU DHABI: England captain Alastair Cook slugged a record-extending 28th Test ton and Ian Bell a half-century as the tourists reached 290-3 against Pakistan at the close of the third day of the first Test on Thursday.
With Cook leading the way with an undefeated 168, England reduced their arrears to 243 after Pakistan had declared on 523-8 the previous afternoon at Sheikh Zayed Stadium.
With two days remaining and 27 wickets still potentially to fall, a draw looks the probable outcome, although fast bowler Wahab Riaz’s removal of Bell (63) and Mark Wood (4) in successive overs near the close again put the hosts in the ascendancy.
England began the third morning on 56-0, with Cook and Moeen Ali — England’s seventh opening pair since the retirement of Andrew Strauss in 2012 — in obdurate mood.
Paceman Imran Khan gave Pakistan a morning breakthrough, dismissing Moeen for 35 as an outside edge carried low to wicket-keeper Sarfraz Ahmed to reduce England to 116-1.
Cook and Bell dug in, albeit at a soporific run rate, with England adding just 17 to the scoreboard in the final 14 overs before lunch.
Abu Dhabi’s flat pitch provided bowlers with another day of toil and little for the hundreds of Pakistan fans to cheer until that late flourish.
Pakistan were hoping their big total would put England under pressure but Cook, regarded a better batsman against spin than his other team-mates, took the fight to the Pakistani bowlers who managed just three wickets in the day.
A drive through extra cover for four brought up his fifth century against Pakistan off 180 balls, taking the 30-year-old five clear of Kevin Pietersen at the top of the list of England Test centurions.
Cook had a narrow escape shortly after. Trying to sweep, the England skipper only found air as he lunged forward and Zulfiqar’s ball struck his pad low.
Pakistan called for a review when Australian umpire Paul Reiffel turned down a strong appeal but Hawk-Eye indicated the ball would have missed leg-stump.
When on 93 the England skipper also completed 1,000 runs in his 11th Test this year, only the second batsman to reach 1,000 runs in 2015 behind team-mate Joe Root.
Zulfiqar was again cursing his luck when Cook, on 149, skied a sweep to Fawad Alam at backward square, but the stooping substitute fielder fumbled the catch.
England spinners Adil Rashid, Moeen, Root and Ben Stokes (one over as spinner) also failed to get a single wicket in a combined 70 overs.
Pakistan’s bowling coach Mushtaq Ahmed admitted the team missed Yasir Shah, not playing here because of a back trouble.
“Definitely we missed Yasir because he was suitable to this pitch,” Mushtaq said.
Bell praised Cook’s superb knock.
“He [Cook] has shown that he can do well in this part of the world,” said Bell. “His shot selection against spinners was world class and he would be ready to go on tomorrow.”
Scoreboard
PAKISTAN (1st Innings) 523-8 declared (Shoaib Malik 245, Asad Shafiq 107, M Hafeez 98; B. Stokes 4-57).
ENGLAND (1st Innings, overnight 56-0):
A. Cook not out 168 Moeen Ali c Sarfraz b Imran 35 I. Bell c Hafeez b Wahab 63 M. Wood b Wahab 4 J. Root not out 3
EXTRAS (B-2, LB-3, W-3, NB-9) 17
TOTAL (for three wkts, 110 overs) 290
FALL OF WKTS: 1-116, 2-281, 3-285.
TO BAT: J. Bairstow, B. Stokes, J. Buttler, A. Rashid, S. Broad, J. Anderson.
BOWLING (to-date): Rahat Ali 16-1-43-0; Imran Khan 15-3-39-1; Zulfiqar Babar 38-15-67-0; Wahab Riaz 19-1-79-2 (9nb, 3w); Asad Shafiq 7-0-19-0; Shoaib Malik 15-2-38-0.
Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2015
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