England's tactical flaw show is exposed

Superbly though both [Younis and Yousuf] of them played, they were helped immeasurably by the dressing-room decision to abandon far too soon the old Headingley principle of bowling on a length around the line of off stump in sure and certain hope of eventual edges to normally positioned slips and gullies. The pitch, it is true, lost pace much more quickly than had seemed likely on Saturday, rather vindicating Inzamam’s judgment that the first day was the best for the fast bowlers. England, however, simply played into their opponents’ hands, first by trying to bounce them into submission, as to some extent they had on the bonier Old Trafford pitch, then by losing patience and attempting instead to bore them out.

Panesar beat an attempted sweep with a ball that not only spun back but seemed to give Inzy an electric shock. Then began the Inzy heptathlon. His first event was the shot putt as he lumbered round, virtually bent double, only for it to metamorphosise into the high jump as he tried to clear the stumps - a leap of 27 inches, nearly six feet below the world record - flicked off the bail with his glove and finished straddled and confused, as if looking for the landing mat.