England left in the dark after Rashid heroics

Misbah returned to the stands and sat shaking his head at his own folly, then at the folly of his tailenders as the final five wickets tumbled for 14 runs in the space of 30 balls, two to Moeen and three to Adil Rashid, whose innings haul of five for 64 was a remarkable turnaround after his barren start on days one and two.

This left England needing a tantalising 99 to win. Nineteen overs remained in the game but when Moeen Ali walked out with Jos Buttler rather than Alastair Cook to open the innings it was 4.50pm and less than an hour remained of usable daylight, supplemented on a short-term lease by floodlights. In that time Pakistan bowled 11 overs, which was two behind the over-rate for the match but hardly indicated scandalous timewasting.

In that period England reached 74 for four before the umpires, the sole arbiters, took the players off using a light-metre reading set from the previous evening’s closure. England could have no complaints but this might convert them to the advantages of day-night Test cricket.

It was a chase that only spluttered. Buttler got away one early boundary four but then fell lbw to Shoaib Malik, who opened with fellow spinner Zulfiqar Babar to exploit a pitch finally offering turn. After eight overs, by which time Moeen and Stokes had both holed out at deep midwicket, England were on 48 and not even halfway to their target. Timing the ball was devilish.

It was when Misbah turned to Wahab Riaz, whose pace would naturally concentrate the umpires’ minds about the light issue, that Jonny Bairstow, joining Yorkshire teammate Joe Root whose sprinting between the wickets left him puffing like Thomas the Tank Engine during an impish innings of 33 off 29 balls, went into overdrive. Bairstow plundered 15 of the 17 runs Wahab’s initial over cost, pulling him for six and hitting him straight for four, but he was stumped in the next over — the 15th and final wicket of an extraordinary day — and in that over from Babar and Wahab’s second only nine runs were added.

Realistically, England would have at least three overs more to score the 24 they still needed but it really was dim by 5.46pm when hands were shaken on England’s first draw in 10 Tests dating back to Antigua.

Never mind. This was a great collective effort of sinew and mind in crippling heat — a testimony to the team’s exemplary fitness — and England can take great heart going into the next match. A short three-match series such as this is a test of endurance and character. England, underdogs at the outset, hold the upper hand while Pakistan, despite the changes that will improve their team for the second Test in Dubai, are the older side by four years on average. That must count for something.

Although Rashid claimed the best figures, it was Anderson again who put the scent of victory on the desert breeze with a double strike in his first over and three agile catches in the space of seven balls standing at slip to Rashid’s leg-breaks.

His second over was eventful: first Shan Masood deflected the ball into his stumps for the second time in the game, this time by a ball that kept low; four balls later, Shoaib was fending a bouncer off his face to be caught by short leg, thus becoming the fifth man to follow a first-innings double-century with a duck.

Pakistan were to get through the afternoon session for the loss of only one wicket — a hesitant Mohammad Hafeez run out unfathomably trying to take a single to Ben Stokes in the covers, who swiveled to execute a direct hit at the bowler’s end — but it could have been a lot worse as Anderson and Stuart Broad got a 25-overs-old ball reversing nicely, if not quite as impressively as Wahab the previous afternoon. Anderson, who got Buttler standing up to deny the batsmen a chance to get down the pitch and smother the spin, thought he had got Misbah lbw. When Bruce Oxenford upheld England’s appeals, Misbah quickly called for a review. Replays showed “umpire’s call” on height — the only issue — but England’s celebrations proved short-lived as Oxenford still reversed his decision: he thought Misbah had got an edge on the ball (which he hadn’t) and had seen Stokes take a diving catch at gully.

In a game in which wickets were for the most part so rare they took on a mirage-like quality, we suddenly had two possible dismissals in one ball. Neither were real.

Alastair Cook admitted later the game looked over at tea but five overs into the final session Rashid’s first Test wicket finally arrived. It was worth the wait: Younis Khan, Pakistan’s all-time leading run-scorer, deceived by a ball that turned, Stokes catching the resultant skyer at cover. Three overs later he added the scalp of Asad Shafiq, and three overs after that Misbah made his horrible underestimation of Moeen’s bowling and the situation. There were only 16 overs of cricket after that, but an awful lot happened.

England had batted on for 50 minutes in the morning, extending their lead to 75 for the loss of Rashid, whose stumps were splayed by a ball from Rahat Ali that jagged back off the seam. The way Broad and Rashid sprinted their runs indicated England’s purpose but Anderson then ate up time overturning a decision that had adjudged him caught at slip off an attempted reverse sweep. The ball deflected off his arm-guard and a doleful Babar saw his figures revert from two for 183 to one for 183.

Two balls later England declared on 598 for nine, their third-highest total in Asia and at 206 overs their longest innings since batting one ball longer at Antigua in 1994.