A Tale of Two Wicket-Keepers

It is hard to believe that we go into the final day of this Test with all three results possible despite the fact that both teams scored over 500 in their first innings. England's position would be far worse if it hadn't been for the diverging fortunes of the two glove men.

Akmal had a torrid day behind the stumps; he dropped Trescothick twice in consecutive overs whilst he was on single figures. The first chance was a bad miss down the leg-side but the second drop was a regulation catch that would cost a village wicket-keeper at least one round of drinks. At first glance he seemed to partly atone for these errors by catching Bell off an inside edge. However, the slow motion replay provided an ironic twist. It appeared that Akmal lost control of the ball as he dived. Only Akmal will know for certain, but with Bell's highly dubious caught and bowled dismissal of Yousuf in the winter in mind, many Pakistan fans will see this as poetic justice.

Bell's departure brought Chris Read to the crease, who batted positively to score 55 from 84 deliveries. He shared a 51 stand with Collingwood and then marshalled the tail to ensure that the England innings subsided rather than collapsed from 299-6 to 345 all out. It is hard to imagine Jones playing such an innings and Read's form in this match has fully justified the selectors belated decision to include him in the team.

The failure of England's usually reliable middle order ensured that the journalists have been denied the opportunity to criticise Strauss for delaying a declaration. However, the pitch is still a good one and I expect that the same scribes will be commentating on overly defensive field placing and slow over rates. Whether Pakistan can gain revenge for England's victory in the twilight of Karachi in 2001 remains to be seen.