The Shorter Wisden 2013

by John Wisden

  Just as influential was Steven Finn. He bowled fast and straight to collect 13 wickets in the four matches, including figures of four for 34 in each of the first two. The power of Finn and England’s other bowlers was too much for a Pakistan side who had not lost any bilateral one-day series in 2011. England were able to rest a number of senior players for the final match and still win.

  Cook advanced his standing as a leader, and his aggressive batting persuaded England to add him to the Twenty20 squad as cover because of minor injuries elsewhere, even if he was never seriously considered for a place in the starting team. Broad became England’s third captain of the tour in the Twenty20 matches, and the management seemed happy to continue splitting the job – although the 50-over success under Cook had the unintended consequence of highlighting the Test losses under Strauss. Yet, for the time being at least, Strauss’s position was under no serious threat.

  England, the reigning world Twenty20 champions, secured the series by winning the final two matches after a careless defeat in the first. Younger players, such as Jonny Bairstow and Jade Dernbach, made useful contributions, although Pietersen and Swann were crucial too. By now, England were more used to the wiles of Pakistan’s spin bowlers, and more at ease with fields that were less attacking than in the Tests. If the one-day series had come first, everything might have been different. And maybe even a little more logical.

  PAKISTAN v ENGLAND

  First Test Match

  DEREK PRINGLE

  At Dubai, January 17–19, 2012. Pakistan won by ten wickets. Toss: England.

  A little over two months after three Pakistani players were imprisoned for spot-fixing during their previous Test against England, at Lord’s in August 2010, the sides met at the neutral venue of the Dubai Sports City Stadium. But the impressive, if sterile, ground did not preside over neutral cricket – at least not from the Pakistanis, who immediately located top gear to despatch England inside three days.

  If the meeting of these teams, with their history of volatility, was always likely to be unpredictable, few could have foreseen the drubbing suffered by England in their first Test since officially becoming the world’s No. 1 side. To lose by ten wickets was bad enough; to do so after your captain had won the toss, and the pitch offered only moderate assistance to the bowlers, was difficult to credit.

  The England attack, it’s true, performed manfully, but the haplessness of the batsmen, who – for only the third time in a Test since the 2006-07 Ashes – were dismissed twice for under 200, meant their efforts were wasted. And central to the demise was Saeed Ajmal, whose jerky mix of doosras and off-breaks brought him match figures of ten for 97, the best by a Pakistani against England for over 24 years.

  During the tea interval on the first day – not long before England were dismissed for 192, itself something of a recovery from 43 for five – Bob Willis, summarising for Sky TV in their London studio, threatened to turn the match into a battle of the bent elbow. It was a prompt the British media took up with glee: no sooner had Ajmal completed career-best figures of seven for 55 than his action became the story.

  Willis was a professional cricketer from 1969 to 1984, an age intolerant of bowlers with noticeable snap at the point of delivery. His doubts over the legitimacy of Ajmal’s action would have been echoed by many from his era, but the change to the playing conditions in 2005, when the ICC sanctioned flexion of up to 15 degrees, was more significant.

  It helped to fan the flames that Ajmal had been reported for a suspect action in 2009 by Billy Bowden, one of the on-field umpires in this Test. Bowden had aired his misgivings during a one-day international against Australia, though Ajmal was cleared on that occasion by experts in human movement at the University of Western Australia. According to their findings, made in controlled laboratory conditions by Professor Bruce Elliott, Ajmal’s bowling arm had 23 degrees of flex at the elbow when it was horizontal – but it straightened by only ten degrees when he bowled his off-break, and by seven with his doosra or quicker ball.

  Just in case England had been fussing over their protractors, Ajmal and his captain, Misbah-ul-Haq, also planted the possibility of a new mystery delivery, the teesra – or third one. If it did exist, other than as a deliberate distraction in the build-up to the match, Ajmal didn’t need to harness it: only Trott and Prior appeared able to pick even the standard variations in his arsenal.

  The Decision Review System seemed to make England’s batsmen doubly jittery. After they were prevented from using their front pads as a reliable line of defence against spin, their techniques unravelled almost as quickly as their confidence. Pietersen, who before the series referred to the DRS as “that bloody machine”, looked especially confused. Unable to pick Ajmal, and with a long-standing unease against left-arm spin – purveyed here by the accurate Abdur Rehman – he displayed all the existential angst of Edvard Munch’s The Scream during his 29-ball innings on the opening day. Ajmal finally put him out of his misery, lbw for two.

  None except Prior, who made an unbeaten 70, and Swann, who swung lustily for 34, offered much of a solution. Prior used his feet well – not in the traditional sense of dancing down the pitch, which English batsmen had long avoided, but by stretching well forward or getting right back. When confronted by Ajmal, so many of England’s batsmen simply shuffled their feet and hung their bats in submission, a strong indication that they hadn’t a clue which way the ball was turning.

  Pakistan’s retort was an opening stand of 114 between Mohammad Hafeez and Taufeeq Umar, though that belied the stoic efforts of Broad and Anderson. With England opting for just one specialist spinner (Tremlett was preferred to Monty Panesar), they had to rotate their three seamers. As Swann’s foils, they ran in bravely and – with a little help from Trott, who trapped Younis Khan with a vicious nip-backer – they managed to dismiss Pakistan for 338. Their lead was 146, but England knew it could have been worse.

  In the event, any vague sense of relief was fleeting. With their second-innings anxieties focused on Ajmal, England appeared to forget that Umar Gul was no slouch either. Charging in from the Southern End, he dismissed Strauss, Cook and Pietersen in his opening spell – though there was enough doubt over Strauss’s dismissal, caught down the leg side by Adnan Akmal, for him to review it and, later, for Andy Flower to complain to the match referee.

  But Gul’s strikes left England’s shaky middle order to confront Ajmal and Rehman. And while the pitch held true, resistance – apart from Trott’s 49 and another cameo from Swann – was token as the spinners shared six wickets. Trott’s efforts at least meant Pakistan needed to bat again, but not for long. Soon after, England were wallowing in their first defeat in ten Tests, since Perth in 2010-11, and their first inside three days since being ambushed by Australia at Headingley in 2009. In those series, England would hold their nerve. Out in the UAE, things were about to get a whole lot worse.

  Man of the Match: Saeed Ajmal.

  Umar Gul 12– 4–35–0; Aizaz Cheema 12–0– 43–1; Mohammad Hafeez 6–3–5–1; Abdur Rehman 18–5–52–1; Saeed Ajmal 24.3–7–55–7. Second innings—Umar Gul 19–5–63– 4; Aizaz Cheema 7.2–1–9–0; Mohammad Hafeez 2–0– 4–0; Saeed Ajmal 17.3– 4– 42–3; Abdur Rehman 12–2–37–3.

  Anderson 30–7–71–2; Tremlett 21–6–53–0; Broad 31–8–84–3; Swann 29.5–3–107– 4; Trott 8–2–16–1. Second innings—Anderson 2–1–7–0; Broad 1.4–1–8–0.

  Umpires: B. F. Bowden and B. N. J. Oxenford. Third umpire: S. J. Davis. Referee: J. Srinath.

  PAKISTAN v ENGLAND

  Second Test Match

  GEORGE DOBELL

  At Abu Dhabi, January 25–28, 2012. Pakistan won by 72 runs. Toss: Pakistan.

  Nobody remembers the first 90% of the voyage of the Titanic. They forget the prompt departure, excellent catering and swift progress across the north Atlantic. No, all anyone talks about is that unfortunate incident with the iceberg.

  So it proved with this Test. By the end, few recalled Englan
d’s excellent bowling; the dogged 139-run stand between Cook and Trott that seemed to have put them in charge; Broad’s counter-attacking half-century; or Panesar’s six second-innings wickets, in his first Test since July 2009.

  Instead, it was all about England’s fourth innings. Set 145 to win, they did not even make it halfway, capitulating for 72 to go 2–0 down with one to play. It was comfortably their lowest total against Pakistan, outdoing 130 at The Oval in 1954, in the first series between these sides, and again at Lahore in 1987-88. It was England’s lowest Test score since 51 in Jamaica in February 2009. And it was only the second time in more than a century they had lost chasing a target under 150.

  Whichever way you looked at it, this was a shocking reverse for a team playing their first series since whitewashing India to go top of the Test rankings in August 2011. It was the first time they had lost successive Tests since hosting South Africa in 2008, and their first series defeat in ten, dating back to that 2008-09 tour of the West Indies. Records tumbled as quickly as wickets.

  Perhaps it should not have come as a huge surprise. England’s record in Asia promised little: excluding Bangladesh, and including the game in Dubai, they had won only one of their last 18 Tests there. Meanwhile, Pakistan had won six of their previous eight Tests and were unbeaten in six series – including a one-off Test against Zimbabwe – following the tumultuous summer of 2010. Under the captaincy of Misbah-ul-Haq and the genial guidance of interim coach Mohsin Khan, they had developed into a decent side in any conditions, and an excellent one in the UAE.

  Abu Dhabi is the driest Test ground in the world, a fact which, combined with injuries to Chris Tremlett and Tim Bresnan, persuaded England to select two specialist spinners, something they had done only once since July 2009. Even more unusually, those two – Swann and Panesar – formed half of a four-man attack. England had not employed a configuration of two fast and two slow bowlers since Kandy in 2003-04.

  From a bowling perspective, the tactic worked. Despite losing an important toss, England used the ball with impressive control on a low surface which snared 29 batsmen bowled or lbw – a record for any Test. Broad, in particular, maintained a wonderfully nagging line and length, and the spinners gained turn from the start as Pakistan slipped to 103 for four. If Anderson, normally so reliable, had held a relatively simple chance at slip off Panesar when Misbah was 30, England might have taken an unassailable advantage.

  It proved a costly miss. While his colleagues were provoked into errors by England’s persistence, Misbah played with discipline and denial, adding 100 with Asad Shafiq. But it was not all grim attrition: when the field was in, Misbah twice lofted Panesar for successive sixes – with his third and fourth scoring shots and, just as improbably, in the last over of the day. Though Shafiq tarnished his innings with a wild sweep, the value of their partnership became apparent when his wicket was the first of six to go for only 54, the final three falling on the second morning at the same score.

  Strauss went early but, during the 50 overs in which Cook and Trott were compiling England’s highest stand of the series, it seemed they would build a match-defining cushion. Trott, though, was bowled by a beauty from Abdur Rehman that turned past his outside edge, and Cook was defeated by Ajmal’s doosra, six runs short of a 20th Test hundred. The middle order flopped again, and it required Broad’s belligerence – he faced only 62 balls – to give England a handy lead of 70.

  That looked as if it would be enough when Pakistan slipped to 54 for four second time round. Panesar troubled all the batsmen with sharp turn and, had Pietersen hit with an underarm throw from ten feet and with all three stumps to aim at, Shafiq would have been run out for 26. Instead he and Azhar Ali, two of Pakistan’s younger brigade, demonstrated real composure to add 88. The run-rate barely passed two an over, and Azhar’s 68 spanned four and a quarter hours, but at least they helped Pakistan eke out a lead of 144: not much to bowl at, but enough to set minds racing – on both sides.

  Then came the iceberg. England, paralysed with fear and uncertainty, never gained momentum. Struggling to pick the length because of the remarkable pace of Pakistan’s spinners, and wary of missing anything on their stumps on another sluggish pitch, they remained rooted to the crease. Thus encouraged, the bowlers exerted a suffocating grip: Cook’s seven occupied 15 overs before he gifted a leading edge back to the off-spin of Mohammad Hafeez, opening the bowling and evidently a specialist against the left-handers; Strauss’s 32 took 29 overs. When he was fifth out, at 56, the end was nigh.

  Already gone were Bell, deceived for the third time in the series by Ajmal’s doosra, plus Pietersen and Morgan, both beaten by Rehman deliveries that skidded on. Trott, batting down the order because of a stomach bug, and Broad were soon defeated by the acute turn of Rehman, who wrapped things up when Anderson swung to deep midwicket. The last five wickets had tumbled in 11 balls, while the waspish, relentless Rehman finished with a career-best six for 25. Only seven men – Charlie Turner, Monty Noble, Aubrey Faulkner, Gerry Hazlitt, Ray Lindwall, Malcolm Marshall and Curtly Ambrose – had taken six or more wickets in a Test innings against England for so few runs. And, with Prior’s dismissal, Ajmal became the quickest Pakistan player to 100 Test victims, in his 19th game. Between them, Pakistan’s spin trio had claimed 19 wickets.

  Seven batsmen failed to score more than a single in England’s final collapse, matching the team’s humiliation at Kingston in February 2009, their first Test with Strauss and Flower in charge, and only one short of the Test record of eight, when England dismissed New Zealand for 26 at Auckland in 1954-55. No wonder Strauss said it was “a struggle to think of a loss that has hurt more”.

  Man of the Match: Abdur Rehman.

  Anderson 19.4–5–46–2; Broad 24–4–47–4; Panesar 33–9–91–1; Swann 18–2–52–3; Trott 2–0–12–0. Second innings—Anderson 14–3–39–1; Broad 20–9–36–1; Panesar 38.2–18–62–6; Swann 27–5–66–2.

  Umar Gul 13–1–53–1; Junaid Khan 8–0–33–0; Mohammad Hafeez 22–4–54–3; Saeed Ajmal 40–6–108–4; Abdur Rehman 29–9–67–2. Second innings—Mohammad Hafeez 8–3–11–1; Umar Gul 3–0–5–0; Saeed Ajmal 15–7–22–3; Abdur Rehman 10.1–4–25–6.

  Umpires: S. J. Davis and B. N. J. Oxenford. Third umpire: B. F. Bowden. Referee: J. Srinath.

  PAKISTAN v ENGLAND

  Third Test Match

  PAUL NEWMAN

  At Dubai, February 3–6, 2012. Pakistan won by 71 runs. Toss: Pakistan.

  It seemed appropriate that the Third Test, which produced Pakistan’s first clean sweep over England, should end on a referred lbw decision. The DRS, and the way it was implemented by the officials, had been a leitmotif of the Tests – so much so that the demise of Panesar was the 43rd lbw in all, an unprecedented number in a three-match series. His forlorn decision to ask for a referral felt like an afterthought, which seemed about right: for the final three days of this game, England had been decidedly off the pace.

  Played, like the First Test, at the near-deserted Dubai Sports City Stadium, this one outdid even the previous two for unpredictability. England were left to wonder how they could have dismissed Pakistan for 99 on the first day and still lose. Only twice before – in the Ashes-spawning Oval Test of 1882, and South Africa’s first win, at the Old Wanderers in 1905-06 – had they suffered defeat after bowling out a team in their first innings in double figures.

  There were two simple reasons for the result. England, their brains now well and truly scrambled by Pakistani spin, mustered only 141 in their reply, when conditions for batting were at their best; and they were unable to separate Azhar Ali and Younis Khan during a second-innings stand of 216 that seemed to mock the loss of 22 wickets for 268 which preceded it. Azhar and Younis might have been playing a different game.

  At lunch on the first day, however, which Pakistan took shortly after slipping to 44 for seven, it looked as if England would finish with a consolation win. Led by the excellent Broad, who bowled with Glenn McGrath-like ac
curacy and hostility for four wickets, they allowed only Asad Shafiq to settle. At the time, his mature 45 out of an eventual total of 99 felt like a futile lone hand. But by the end of the day, with England listing once more at 104 for six, Shafiq’s innings was assuming match-winning proportions.

  The opening skirmishes were not a triumph for Simon Taufel. Long regarded as one of the best umpires in the world, he saw three of his decisions overturned by the DRS on his first day in the series. While 16 wickets were tumbling, seven of them to spin, it felt as if the old tradition of giving the batsman the benefit of the doubt – a tacit understanding, admittedly, rather than a Law – was being confined to history.

  Pietersen certainly thought so. His problems with the spinners had – despite his denials – almost certainly been exacerbated by his concerns about the DRS, and now Taufel adjudged him leg-before to Abdur Rehman when technology showed the ball was barely clipping leg stump. Even the fact that he had fallen once more to a left-arm spinner, for the 22nd time in Tests, was overshadowed by his evident displeasure at the decision. If Pietersen felt it was guesswork, Taufel had been technically vindicated – although Pietersen claimed he later received an apology from the umpire, himself believed to be no great fan of the DRS. The episode did little to dissuade those who thought the technology risked turning batting, especially on slow pitches, into something of a lottery. With Rehman – bowling wicket to wicket and spearing the ball in – claiming a second successive haul of five or more, England’s lead was kept down to a far from formidable 42.