ENGLAND are using the memory of Ashes defiance to dig themselves out of a hole in Dubai.
Even though they had coughed up nearly a 100-run lead by the close of day two against Pakistan, their bowlers had limited the damage and thoughts were turning to Brisbane and the great escape.
Just over a year ago England were staring down the barrel as Australia ramped up a 221-run lead in the first Test only to see it vanish into thin air thanks to a mammoth second innings of 517-1.
The English virtues of sweat and toil have been on full show from the bowlers in dragging them back into the first Test – helped by snatching a late double strike.
On a flat pitch made for run-scoring, England’s Horlicks of an innings was made to look even worse by Pakistan’s patience.
Both Pakistani openers (above) hit fifties after putting on their record fifth century stand, plus another half-century from skipper Misbah ul-Haq put them in control of the game.
But England haven’t reached the top of the Test tree by giving up and they showed it again by keeping Pakistan in sight on 288-7 at the close.
“We deserved the wickets and it was a really good bowling performance,” said Stuart Broad, who took 2-72.
“Pakistan are still in a strong position and we’re chasing the game.
Even though they had coughed up nearly a 100-run lead by the close of day two against Pakistan, their bowlers had limited the damage and thoughts were turning to Brisbane and the great escape.
Just over a year ago England were staring down the barrel as Australia ramped up a 221-run lead in the first Test only to see it vanish into thin air thanks to a mammoth second innings of 517-1.
The English virtues of sweat and toil have been on full show from the bowlers in dragging them back into the first Test – helped by snatching a late double strike.
On a flat pitch made for run-scoring, England’s Horlicks of an innings was made to look even worse by Pakistan’s patience.
Both Pakistani openers (above) hit fifties after putting on their record fifth century stand, plus another half-century from skipper Misbah ul-Haq put them in control of the game.
But England haven’t reached the top of the Test tree by giving up and they showed it again by keeping Pakistan in sight on 288-7 at the close.
“We deserved the wickets and it was a really good bowling performance,” said Stuart Broad, who took 2-72.
“Pakistan are still in a strong position and we’re chasing the game.
“But if you look back to Brisbane and Trent Bridge this year where we had an average first innings, in our second innings we went really big. It is going to be up to a couple of batsmen to score big hundreds, and the batsmen are excited about putting right the wrongs of the first innings when we batted really badly.
“As a bowler you want to be bowling at 400 and not 200 but this England side is good at looking forward and we don’t dwell on the past.”
Broad was the pick of England’s bowlers, getting the ball to do just enough to sneak past the edge of Taufeeq Umar’s bat and onto his stumps before finding the edge of Azhar Ali’s into Matt Prior’s gloves.
A reckless sweep from Hafeez cost him his wicket, but at 202-3 and already with a lead, England’s disciplined bowling also appeared toothless.
That all changed thanks to the intervention of part-timer Jonathan Trott, whose medium dobbers shouldn’t be getting anyone out, let alone a player of the class of Younis Khan.
While Saeed Ajmal had ripped through England’s line-up, Graeme Swann was finding it difficult to con the Pakistan batsmen who were milking him at times. He has got a lot of overs to bowl out here with or without a second spinner but if he doesn’t have a decent score on the board behind him, the extra pressure isn’t there.
Thankfully for England they have other ways of getting through, such as with the second new ball in James Anderson’s hands.
And with the day meandering to a close and Misbah thinking of what he might turn his 52 into, the persevering Swann struck to remove him lbw.
It needed a smart referral from skipper Andrew Strauss to make it happen, but he has got the DRS down to a fine art these days and it resulted in another scalp before the close.
“As a bowler you want to be bowling at 400 and not 200 but this England side is good at looking forward and we don’t dwell on the past.”
Broad was the pick of England’s bowlers, getting the ball to do just enough to sneak past the edge of Taufeeq Umar’s bat and onto his stumps before finding the edge of Azhar Ali’s into Matt Prior’s gloves.
A reckless sweep from Hafeez cost him his wicket, but at 202-3 and already with a lead, England’s disciplined bowling also appeared toothless.
That all changed thanks to the intervention of part-timer Jonathan Trott, whose medium dobbers shouldn’t be getting anyone out, let alone a player of the class of Younis Khan.
While Saeed Ajmal had ripped through England’s line-up, Graeme Swann was finding it difficult to con the Pakistan batsmen who were milking him at times. He has got a lot of overs to bowl out here with or without a second spinner but if he doesn’t have a decent score on the board behind him, the extra pressure isn’t there.
Thankfully for England they have other ways of getting through, such as with the second new ball in James Anderson’s hands.
And with the day meandering to a close and Misbah thinking of what he might turn his 52 into, the persevering Swann struck to remove him lbw.
It needed a smart referral from skipper Andrew Strauss to make it happen, but he has got the DRS down to a fine art these days and it resulted in another scalp before the close.
