RESULT
1st Test, Abu Dhabi, October 13 - 17, 2015, England tour of United Arab Emirates
523/8d & 173
(T:99) 598/9d & 74/4

Match drawn

Player Of The Match
263
alastair-cook
New
ENG 2nd Innings
Full commentary
end of over 115 runs
ENG: 74/4CRR: 6.72 
Ian Bell5 (6b)
Joe Root33 (29b 1x4)
Wahab Riaz 2-0-20-0
Zulfiqar Babar 5-0-27-2

6.20pm: I suspect everyone who played, watched or followed is feeling flatter than the 22 yards in the middle after that finish. We almost witnessed one of the most extraordinary Test wins going but, after it all - runs and overs and records tumbling - we got the draw most predicted from day three onwards. Miller is currently trying to make sense of it all in his report and I'm off to lie down in a darkened room for a bit. Thanks for all your comments and for sticking round until the end - it's usually always worth it. We'll be back for more next week. Cheerio!

6.05pm: Time for the presentations, starting with Younis Khan, having passed Javed Miandad to become Pakistan's leading Test run-scorer. Adil Rashid is, er, "smart player of the match"; Joe Root gets most colourful innings; Shoaib Malik the outstanding performance... Okay then, lost of gongs to give out.

And Alastair Cook is Man of the Match for his first-innings 263, not to mention captaining his side to within about 15 minutes of victory: "We would have liked another three or four overs, but that's the way it is. I can't fault the guys, on a really flat wicket, conceding 500, we had to hang in there. The wicket did start deteriorating at the end. We're proud but would have obviously liked the result. We knew we had to put pressure back on Pakistan, either going close to them or going past them, then on the last day you never know. The pressure on the opposition... Brilliant from Rash, the criticism he got was unfair, he handled the pressure and what you saw today was a very fine bowler. We played a good game, Pakistan did too, probably a bit softer today. The game does speed up, we probably deserved the win on points. Credit to the boys and the fans."

Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq: [Pleased to get out with draw?] "I think we made mistakes. These games can destroy your confidence, but we are in a situation where we are not 1-0 down, we have had success in Dubai and we will go there level. [Surprised by how well England played] We were talking about it before the series, the pitch also helped them, not much turn and bounce. But credit to them, after we scored 500 runs, they dealt with the pressure and made almost 600."

5.55pm: Pakistan escape by their underarmour, in process maintaining their unbeaten record at Abu Dhabi. They say how quickly Tests in Asia can whip up into a storm towards the end but this takes the cake. From the sleepy depths of England declaring nine down, we had James Anderson taking two in an over to light the flames and then, after Adil Rashid had finally got his first Test wicket, a conflagration breaking out. Misbah was bowled walking down the pitch and Pakistan lost their last five wickets for 14 in five overs... But there wasn't quite enough time left in the game, as the skies darkened and the last grains of sand ran through the timer.

The umpires check the light again - and that's it, they're shaking hands on a draw! See, you were never getting a result on this pitch... But, holy moly, that was not the finish anyone had in mind when the teams arrived this morning with England still in their first innings. Pakistan's capitulation doesn't end up costing them but England, despite not being able to force the victory, will take a huge amount of confidence after grabbing the game by its scruff this evening.

10.6
1
Wahab Riaz to Bell, 1 run

Wahab grunts as he slams the ball on a length, Bell has to hit on the up, into the covers and he wants two but it's not happening

"Playing under such dark light can be injurious to players. Play should be stopped immediately. :D" Nice try, Talha Hameed

10.5
1
Wahab Riaz to Root, 1 run

straighter line, stays back and pulls flat out towards long-on

10.4
Wahab Riaz to Root, no run

a precious dot as Root is beaten by a full delivery wide of the stumps

Misbah moves the field around, everyone back

10.3
1
Wahab Riaz to Bell, 1 run

length, bit of width and again slapped through point

10.2
1
Wahab Riaz to Root, 1 run

angled across the batsman from over the wicket, chops one through backward point

10.1
1
Wahab Riaz to Bell, 1 run

pitched up outside off, punched down the ground

Wahab continues, the umpires having shoeed off the 12th man who was trying to bring on a drink

"Those days when the umpire would ask the batsmen whether they wanted to take lights." Indeed, Kunal, and the likeliest reason we won't get another Karachi.

end of over 104 runs • 1 wicket
ENG: 69/4CRR: 6.90 
Ian Bell2 (3b)
Joe Root31 (26b 1x4)
Zulfiqar Babar 5-0-27-2
Wahab Riaz 1-0-15-0

Out comes the light meter, Bruce Oxenford takes a reading... But they are going to keep going. you can see the light of the city twinkling in the distance over the back of the stands

9.6
1
Babar to Bell, 1 run

full around leg stump, Bell reverse the hands and swats more to deep backward point

9.5
Babar to Bell, no run

tossed up on leg stump, Bell can't get it away

9.4
1
Babar to Root, 1 run

on the stumps, drops back and clips one more out to deep square leg

9.3
1
Babar to Bell, 1 run

tucked into the leg side and Root demands a run, he's not giving up

I'm not sure England are going to be able to get this, it's really quite dark now. In comes Ian Bell

9.2
W
Babar to Bairstow, OUT

comes charging out, Babar fizzes it through - gone this time, stumped! Walked past it - maybe couldn't see it - and England are four down, Bairstow's cameo over

Jonny Bairstow st †Sarfaraz Ahmed b Zulfiqar Babar 15 (10b 1x4 1x6 19m) SR: 150
9.1
1
Babar to Root, 1 run

over the wicket, tossed up and Root top-edges it straight up - but it's dropped! Or left, rather, Sarfraz and Babar confusing each other and neither taking a dolly

The light is definitely fading fast now. England two-thirds of the way to a sensational win

end of over 917 runs
ENG: 65/3CRR: 7.22 
Jonny Bairstow15 (9b 1x4 1x6)
Joe Root29 (24b 1x4)
Wahab Riaz 1-0-15-0
Shoaib Malik 4-0-25-2

Remember, they went off around this time yesterday evening... England need a few overs more yet

8.6
4
Wahab Riaz to Bairstow, FOUR runs

full toss from Wahab and it's clubbed straight back down the ground, long-on won't get there! Seventeen off the over, just what England needed

"That six hurt england more than help..." warbles DanielAlexander

8.5
2
Wahab Riaz to Bairstow, 2 runs

full and wide of off, slashed through backward point, the fielder runs around on the fence and cuts it off

8.4
2lb
Wahab Riaz to Bairstow, 2 leg byes

length ball this time, on the pads, heaves across the line and gets an inside edge, they race back for two

8.4
1w
Wahab Riaz to Bairstow, 1 wide

Bairstow backs away and Wahab slings it down very wide - called again!

The ball has bounced over the perimeter fence, they've got to go and find it! More than 6% of the runs in one shot but more time lost...

8.3
6
Wahab Riaz to Bairstow, SIX runs

banged in short and... it's gone for six! Bairstow gets it right out of the screws, reaching up above his head and taking it from outside off stump over deep midwicket

8.2
1
Wahab Riaz to Root, 1 run

short and Root misses attempting to pull, hit on the arm and it rolls away into the off side - 50 up, more than halfway now but time is fast running out

8.1
1
Wahab Riaz to Bairstow, 1 run

over the wicket, back of a length around off, slugged down the ground to long-off

Now Misbah slows things down to have a conference... The upshot is that Wahab is going to come on. Never mind Edgbaston '87 or Karachi 2000, this might end up being another Oval '13

end of over 86 runs
ENG: 48/3CRR: 6.00 
Joe Root28 (23b 1x4)
Jonny Bairstow2 (4b)
Shoaib Malik 4-0-25-2
Zulfiqar Babar 4-0-23-1

"What's the light condition exactly, 5 overs possible?" It's dropping fast, raees ansari. Five or six might be about right

7.6
2
Malik to Root, 2 runs

drags it a little short and Root pulls, again into space at deep midwicket, two more - but four overs without a boundary for England