Yousuf puts Pakistan in driving seat

ENGLAND took in Mohammad Yousuf’s master class of batting on the sub-continent and began to put the tough lesson into practice as they tried to save the final Test against Pakistan in Lahore yesterday.

Yousuf’s career-best 223 was a triumph of concentration and ‘percentage’ cricket as he minimised risk for much of his innings and launched into all-out attack only in the last stages of his mission to demoralise the tourists.

He, his sixth-wicket partner Kamran Akmal (154) and captain Inzamam-ul-Haq (97) left England’s bowlers with nowhere to hide as they put 636 for eight declared on the board before inviting their opponents to start their second innings a frightening 348 runs adrift.

After England had lost both openers cheaply, it seemed defeat - and a 2-0 series reverse - was looming for the Ashes heroes. But Ian Bell (60no) and Paul Collingwood proved their mettle in an unbroken stand of 91 on the way to 121 for two by stumps on day four.

Bell recognised that his team still have a long way to go if they are to earn a draw and he also acknowledged the sharp learning curve for England as they watched Yousuf farm the ball around expertly and patiently, just as Michael Vaughan’s team had failed to do in their own flawed first innings.

“We realise if we are honest that we didn’t get enough runs by a long way in our first innings, and I think Pakistan showed us how to play on this wicket,” said Bell, who was one of four frontline batsmen out sweeping in England’s initial effort which mustered an under-par 288 all out.

“I’ve tried to play so far exactly how Yousuf showed us how to play in his double hundred. The key is to play nice and straight and do what they did in that first innings and not give anything away cheaply.”

Bell had only one anxious moment in his compact 85-ball half-century - when Shoaib Akhtar accidentally hit him on the forearm with a slower ball which turned into a beamer.

Shoaib’s change of pace had already fooled Vaughan into giving him an easy return catch, and Bell fell foul of the same sort of delivery in the first Test in Multan where he was reprieved by a no-ball call. “For a split second I thought it was a quicker one. But he’s bowled it really well with real dip on it, and it’s been quite tricky to pick up,” he said.

The trouble was deep by the time the tourists began their second innings by losing both openers to Shoaib’s new-ball spell, Marcus Trescothick lbw on the front-foot defence for a second-ball duck in a solitary over before lunch and Vaughan undone by the clever slower ball.