England stung by Pakistan in Dubai

It was a case of a drowsy giant being stung by an ever-dangerous snake at Dubai’s International Cricket Stadium this week. And that is not to cast a serpentine aspersion on the Pakistani’s; it is simply a metaphor designed to explicate the nature of the unpredictable beast.

The combination of Pakistan’s mercurial cricketing talent and England’s lack of match practice produced an upset that wasn’t entirely an upset. That is to say that no-one, pundit or couch-analyst, doubts the potential the Pakistani’s have to beat the best in the world on their day(s).

The shock to the cricketing system – for an upset of sorts there certainly was – administered by this result may be due to the fact that England were so comprehensively beaten inside three days. Because if Andy Flower’s England has shown anything in test matches since their last loss to Australia in 2010 in Perth, it is a quality indicative of the hardy Zimbabwean himself: resilience. Yet such mental fortitude was scarcely visible throughout the first test against Pakistan in Dubai Sports City (DSC).

The laceration of reality the Pakistani’s inflicted on England is, however, not a mortal one. For, as Michael Atherton blogged: “It would be amazing if England produced a repeat of their truly horrendous first Test performance in Abu Dhabi.”

Indeed, to concur with Athers, the current England side is far too good a team to reproduce such a flaccid performance with the bat – with the exception perhaps of Matt Prior’s first innings efforts. Thus we can expect a revived and more steadfast approach in the forthcoming test in Abu Dhabi (25-29 Jan).

On the other hand, it is important to note that England’s bowlers did perform well, restricting Pakistan to a total of 338 on a pitch that would have provided a suitable ironing or driving surface.

However, to focus exclusively on, and bemoan England’s performance – as have Messrs Atherton, Willis, Lloyd, Flintoff and of course Botham – without acknowledging what was a very good performance by Pakistan would be anathema to objectivity and tantamount to biased and insular thinking. It is important therefore, to pay the necessary homage to some sparkling performances by the ‘Men in Green’.

Ajmal has leveled the playing field

Saeed Ajmal beguiled England’s batsmen with the ‘teesra’; Umar Gul bowled well throughout, and although his wickets were either unlucky (Strauss) or plain stupid (KP) from a batsmen’s perspective, he bowled many jaffers that went unrewarded; Mohammed Hafeez showed the dogged and controlled attitude one is used to seeing from Trott; and Misbah Ul-Huq played sensibly through a tricky phase to ensure Adnan Akmal was able to reap the rewards of some old fashioned application at the crease – not a phenomenon one is used to seeing from many Pakistan batsmen in recent years.

Significantly, Misbah’s current trajectory could see him supersede the record for the most test wins as Pakistan’s captain – currently held by Javed Miandad and Imran Khan with 14 a-piece. And Misbah’s success may well be symbolic of the new world order of Pakistani cricket.

But one should wait to see what the future holds for this current Pakistan team before unthinkingly mentioning Misbah in the same breath as cricket legends such as Miandad and Khan.

The much anticipated duel leading up to the series is the face-off between the spinners – Ajmal and Graeme Swann. And despite Saad Shafqat’s point that: “There is a feeling that Swann’s psychological arsenal is more potent than Ajmal’s,” the teesra seems to have leveled the playing field.

Indeed Ajmal has drawn first blood, claiming match figures of 10-97, as opposed to Swann’s return of 4-107. But it’s not a ‘first blood’ match. Rather, it’s a two-out-of-three falls contest: at least it has become so. And the series is much the better for it. A series that some had expected to be an uninteresting and predictable affair has suddenly aroused a sense of intrigue and excitement.

Pakistan can expect a backlash from England, as can the whole cricketing community. And the fixture in Abu Dhabi now promises to be an absorbing contest where England has to start playing catch-up in a three match series – a tricky mission to achieve, and one they haven’t been faced with for quite some time.

England may have been caught napping, but the catcher must be awake to catch the napper. It is harder, as we well know, for a giant to climb down a beanstalk to reclaim his pride than it is for an adroit young lad called Jack to run away with it to his Motherland. And in this version of the fairytale, Jack is wearing a green cap.

Advertisement

Posted in: Ajmal, Blog, Cricket, Dubai, England, Meta-Sport, Pakistan, Sport