Cook and Bell grind away bad memories

Alastair Cook and Ian Bell, the two surviving England batsmen from the 2012 series against Pakistan, ensured the team have already achieved more with the bat in one innings than they did three years ago.

In the whitewash, England's highest individual score was Cook's 94 in Abu Dhabi, while Bell's highest score was 29 in a paltry three-match return of 51 runs: James Anderson out-scored him in the series. They were not going to have a much better chance to right that record on a docile pitch that has done nothing to promote a contest, but that did not make it a fait accompli that England would see out the day in relative ease. They did what they had to do.

The crowd was better on the third day, a public holiday, and more may come on Friday after prayers but they are not being provided with much of a spectacle. Regardless of what happens on the final two days, this pitch should be marked down by the match referee as was Trent Bridge in 2014. There was probably more life on the surfaces being used for the holiday games of cricket that could be seen in the distance.

We will never know what difference Yasir Shah would have made - as much in the minds of England's batsmen as off the pitch - but, in the fullness of time, he may ponder that the timing of his back spasm could have been worse. In a sense, though, that just piled the pressure on England. To falter against a weakened attack on the flattest of pitches would have been criminal, but facing a total of 523 could have played some mental tricks. Step forward AN Cook.

This was a resumption of Cook's Asian Odyssey which began on debut in Nagpur in 2006 when he flew halfway around the world from the England Lions tour of West Indies after Michael Vaughan's knee went pop again. He now totals eight hundreds in Asia. That puts him level with Jacques Kallis for non-Asian batsman; Kallis is also the only man ahead of him now - by 88 as it stands - in total runs scored in Asia for such players. That's right: by the end of this tour an English batsman could top that list.

In total, 16 of Cook's 28 hundreds have come overseas. Success away from home in this generation, whether team or individual, has become increasingly difficult which further elevates his achievement. He has now completed a full set of hundreds in every country he has had the opportunity to play in.

After his near-punch at the ball in the first over last evening when he bounced dangerously near his stumps - a similarity with his long-time mentor Graham Gooch he would not have wanted - and a close lbw shout against Rahat Ali, Cook did not have another significant scare until he had passed three figures. On 101, Zulfiqar Babar screamed for an lbw - no one could blame a bowler for a bit of pleading on this surface - and Misbah-ul-Haq reviewed only for Hawk Eye, somewhat surprisingly, to say it was completely missing leg. Even the computer was saying no to the bowlers.

Cook was also tested by some outstandingly wholehearted pace bowling from Pakistan's trio - Wahab Riaz's regular pushing of the speedgun to 90mph-plus almost defied the laws of nature in these conditions - but he was rarely flustered. In the evening session, he was given a life on 147 when Fawad Alam could not hold a top-edged sweep at deep square-leg. Zulfiqar, whose 38 wicketless overs helped put Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali's struggles in context, would have been forgiven for shedding a tear.

The 2015s of Cook and Bell have diverged. Cook's started with him battling to end a lengthy run without a Test hundred; it eventually stopped at 35 innings when he scored a century against West Indies in Barbados and he is now the leading run-scorer for the year. Bell's year began with 143 in Antigua but has been a battle since: three fluent fifties against Australia are countered by six scores of 1 - a figure he spent 35 balls on here, either side of lunch - and a pair in Barbados.

Graceful is a word used often for Bell, but never for Cook, even in the best of times, so it says something of Bell's early struggles that Cook was made to look that way. First ball he edged Imran Khan short of slip and third ball opened his account with an inside edge to long leg. That was it for more than half an hour until he drove Shoaib Malik for a three. And in that time he felt under threat almost every ball.

There was a sharp chance to Shan Masood at silly point, where Azhar Ali would normally have been stood with his swift reflexes, and there were a couple of close lbw shouts as Bell thrust forward with bat behind bat - dangerous in the DRS era. Shortly after he trebled his score he shouldered arms to one which almost shaved off stump. It was agonising stuff, and that was just watching it. On 9, another nick fell short of slip - Pakistan's cordon tried various staggers to no effect - and next ball an edge went to third man as he moved into double figures.

But slowly, very slowly, life became a little easier. And, for that, Bell deserves much credit. Pakistan tried to lure him into going over the top, stationing mid-off two-thirds of the way back and also using a short cover, but Bell resisted. There was no repeat of Ahmedabad off Pragyan Ojha, Wellington off Bruce Martin, Adelaide off Steven Smith or Edgbaston off Nathan Lyon.

His fifty came from 134 balls when he pulled Rahat to long leg. Pakistan reviewed when he hooked at Wahab on 57 but this time the third umpire heard no sound. Then, with 20 minutes to go, a weary drive at a wide one found backward point to end the chance of a century to more completely atone for his twin drops. Still, he should feel a little better about life. As at Cape Town in early 2010 and Auckland in 2013 he showed he could get ugly.

One brought two as nightwatchman Mark Wood chopped on - it was a little baffling why Joe Root would want protecting on this pitch, expect for pad-rash maybe - but Cook remained unbeaten and, after another monumental display of concentration, could still walk off content. He has been in the middle for most of the match except when having treatment for his split webbing. It was not a day of Test cricket that will live long in the memory, but the performance of the England captain was that of a giant in Asia.