England’s Spinning Wheels

Pakistan stunned England by 72 runs in the second Test, to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-Test series.

England were bowled out for 72 runs as Pakistan defeated England in the second Test.

The much-awaited England-Pakistan series is over after two matches, hence we do our series report now, as the story of any series is much truer while it was still open.  

UAE’s pitch conditions changed dramatically from the past, as this time there was a very concerted effort to provide result pitches – a lot of credit to the authorities. A good turning pitch resulted – with even bounce and equal opportunity for both sides. Pakistan displayed the better ability to play spin, and bowl it.

England’s failure to beat the conditions, however, does not bring the world’s number one Test side any disgrace (like the previous incumbent’s performances in England did, and indeed, India’s parallel performances in Australia have). They competed well, especially in the second Test when they even got the first innings lead and put themselves in a winning position. Their feeble fourth innings performance of 72 all out notwithstanding, a lot of credit is due to a fighting Pakistan for just never saying die.

However, England will rue the fact that they’ve not made any progress in improving their subcontinent record – and continue to stay at the same place.

These are the series figures - conventional averages/tallies in the first four columns, IMPACT numbers in the next three.  

NOTE: All IMPACT numbers between 0 and 5.

It is very rare to see a Test series like this. The five highest impact players are all spinners (though Hafeez is also up there for his batting).

Given that, Stuart Broad’s performance is nothing short of magnificent – he was the only fast bowler who looked threatening on these pitches. His second innings knock of 58 in the 2^nd Test should have been a match-winning one too. Unfortunately for England, that was his only outstanding performance with the bat in the two Tests, but it almost brought him an all-rounder’s status for the series (crossing an IMPACT of 1 in more than one function).

Hafeez and Swann were the only players who produced all-round performances in the series, both in different directions. Swann the bowling all-rounder, Hafeez the batting.

Saeed Ajmal is easily the Man-of-the-Series and the fundamental difference between the two sides. He achieves a perfect IMPACT of 5 for the series, not a common occurrence in Test cricket. Hopefully he will not overlooked for the award, regardless of what happens in the 3^rd Test, like Hilfenhaus was in the series going on in Australia.

Abdul Rehman was the second-best Pakistani bowler in the series – his 6 for 25 in his fourth bowling innings pretty much ended the series. However, Panesar, in the only Test he played, had a higher impact than him in the series. England will rue not playing him in the first Test.

Misbah ul Haq and Asad Shafiq absorbed the most pressure with the bat in the series for Pakistanwhile Matty Prior and Swann did so for England.

Hafeez (Batting IMPACT 3.22) and Shafiq (2.70) were the best two Pakistani batsmen while Prior(2.01) and Trott (1.82) were the best batsmen for England. Just this difference in their IMPACT numbers reveal quite a bit.

The big guns of English batting Pietersen and Bell (and Morgan) did not even cross an IMPACT of 1 in the series. Cook and Strauss barely did – and therein lies the story of England’s failure in the series.

The Team Series IMPACT for Pakistan so far is 2.48 as compared to England's 1.72. This indicates it hasn’t really been as close overall as it seemed during the second Test.