3:12 AM
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England 192 and 16 for 1 (Trott 8*, Cook 2*) trail Pakistan 338 (Hafeez 88, Akmal 61, Swann 4-107) by 130 runs
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Andrew Strauss came as close as he has to dissent during his imperturbable reign as England captain, as his dismissal shortly before lunch strengthened Pakistan's hold on the first Test.
Strauss was given out caught down the leg side against Umar Gul, a decision by umpire Billy Bowden that was upheld by the DRS, and he walked from the outfield with a regal shake of the head. Actually, he allowed himself several regal shakes of the head. For a conservative sort like Strauss that was akin to rebellion. He would not have had much appetite for lunch with England still 130 behind and his own wicket already lost.
There was definitely a woody sound as the ball curled past Strauss' bat and there was a brief delay before he called for the third umpire, although that was probably not as much a clue to guilt as proof of Strauss' determination that England should gather their thoughts before using the review system. Hotspot revealed nothing - but then Hotspot is not infallible. The third umpire, Steve Davis, as the guidelines state, saw "no conclusive evidence" to allow him to overturn Bowden's decision and he had no option but to follow such a course.
History warns England that victory in the first Test is all but impossible after they conceded a lead of 146 to Pakistan in the first Test in Dubai. To dismiss Pakistan for 338 on a decent batting surface was a redoubtable effort by the England attack, but it would require an immense turnaround for them to win the match from here.
As for Strauss himself, he has now passed fifty only once in the last 12 innings. His leadership has been instrumental in carrying England to No. 1 in the world but he badly needs runs.
England conceded another 50 runs on the third morning in removing Pakistan's last three batsmen. Adnan Akmal, one of three Pakistan brothers to play Test cricket, sought to carry the game out of England's reach, advancing his overnight 24 not out to 61 before he was last out, stumped by three yards against Graeme Swann as he looked for a single to farm the strike.
If Mr. and Mrs. Akmal had brought 11 sons into the world instead of seven, they could have formed the most unpredictable cricket team in the world. Adnan played and missed more in the opening half hour than Pakistan had on the first two days as England's pace attack enticed more swing from a second new ball that began the day 23 overs old. But he continued on his carefree way, carving boundaries to third man and then treating Swann to several reverse sweeps as the lead mounted.
England struck with the ninth ball of the morning, when Umar Gul's uncontrolled drive at Stuart Broad careered to gully where Eoin Morgan held a simple catch. Next, Saeed Ajmal, even more than Strauss, had reason to rue his misfortune as Hotspot failed to help out the umpires once more.
"Nobody claims the DRS is perfect," Haroon Lorgat, the ICC's chief executive, had reminded everybody in Dubai the previous day. DRS, according to Lorgat, had improved decision making to 99% accuracy. Saeed Ajmal got the 1% as Davis put small print ahead of commonsense.
Bowden adjudged that Swann had dismissed Ajmal at short leg, the batsman called for a review, and tv replays showed no flick of the glove as the ball deflected off the pad to Alastair Cook at short leg.
According to Sky TV, Davis then told Bowden that because Hotspot was obscured he had "no conclusive evidence" to overrule his decision. It was so hard to believe on slow-motion replay that Bowden had got it right, that Davis seemed to have conclusive evidence to overturn the decision irrespective of Hotspot.
England's mediocre record in Asia is well documented and little illustrates it better than the fact that they have won only two Tests in Asia after conceding a first-innings lead. Both came against Pakistan, 51 years ago in Lahore when the margin was only seven runs and again in Karachi in 2000 when the margin was again slim, 17 runs and England won in the dark.
There has been a lot of talk about England being back in the game. If they are, they are hanging on by the slenderest thread.
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