Youhana and Moin propel Pakistan

By Ted Corbett

FAISALABAD, NOV. 29. Alec Stewart, the England wicket-keeper, thought it good fun to encourage the left-arm spinner Ashley Giles with shouts of a semi-Urdu ``Sheebash, Ash'' today and when the result was three early Giles wickets it looked as if he had found a magic phrase as effective as ``Open Sesame.''

Instead England was rocked back on its heels by another stern innings from Yousuf Youhana, whose century saved Pakistan from embarrassment a week ago and the first day of the second Test ended with Pakistan firmly in command.

It was a strange day for the first of a Test match and the majority of dismissals came from soft, thoughtless shots rather than a clever strategy or a superb delivery. I suspect that both sides were surprised by the pitch, a sombre, grassless strip that heralded another boring day without runs but which for the first hour had bounce and not a little pace.

Once the presentations to mark Wasim Akram's 100th Test were finished - including a 24 carat gold shield - and Moin Khan had won the toss, the game soon began its erratic pattern. Saeed Anwar was struck by Darren Gough's fourth ball and in the second over, Nasser Hussain began to round up more slips. ``It's not going to be a pitch for five slips and two gullies,'' he had said the day before, but he was happy to make a meal of his words although Anwar guided the ball through the vacant space at third slip for three of his seven fours.

Anwar and Shahid Afridi had put on 33 in seven overs and despite the bouncy pitch Gough made one ball rise and hit Afridi a resounding blow on the helmet. The insult was too much for the descendent of the Khyber tribes and he hit the next ball for four. Anwar moved down the pitch to advice caution but the red mist was in place and Afridi edged the next ball to slip. Runs came apace for the next 15 overs as Anwar and Salim Elahi found the gaps in a stand of 63 so that Hussain had to pull both Gough and Andrew Caddick out of the attack and call up Giles. In his first over Giles dropped Anwar from a caught and bowled chance that showed there was still lift in the pitch but at 96, with lunch less than 15 minutes away, Anwar simply lobbed the ball half-heartedly to mid-wicket.

In strode Inzamam-ul-Haq thinking he might play the long innings that was clearly required, only to drop his second ball on to his stumps. That over transformed the game for a while and when Elahi played another desultory stroke to cover at 130 and Abdur Razzaq was bowled by Craig White for nine at 151 for five, those England supporters who will watch the last two Tests thought all out 250 might be on the cards.

Moin Khan - you'll remember him hitting the ball into the stand early in his innings in the World Cup semifinal at Auckland in 1992 - still loves a challenge. He saw White's reverse swing as a scoring opportunity, Ian Salisbury's leg breaks as a presentation gift and by the 60th over he and Youhana had produced a fifty stand.

One Moin cover drive for four off White hurtled past Graham Thorpe as an express train rushes through a village station. Youhana preferred to pick his runs with more elegant shots, a push for one here, a nudge into an open space for two, and only the occasional broad swing of the bat. He is full of the easy confidence of Pakistani youth and long before the shadows cut the day short he was on his way to a second successive Test century.

By the close both batsmen were beyond fifty, Pakistan were 243 for five - off only 75 of the scheduled 83 overs - and England had missed its chance to establish a bridgehead too far.

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