PAKISTAN v. ENGLAND

At Lahore, March 2, 3, 4, 6, 7. Drawn. In the end this match was drawn comfortably enough, but there was a time during the afternoon of the fourth day and the morning of the fifth when England batted in the shadow of defeat. Lewis and Greig withstood the attack of Intikhab, their main enemy, so well that Lewis was even able to declare and offer Pakistan two and a half hours to score 240 to win. It was a gesture that nobody expected to produce a result, yet it had the effect of restoring England's standing.

After the travail of India, the England batsmen clearly welcomed the sight of a firm pitch from which the ball bounced higher than at any time in the preceding three months. In his thirteenth Test match Amiss, who had been dropped after the third Test against India, showed his appreciation by scoring his first century for England. It took him four and a half hours and he was not recognisable as the batsman who plunders runs for Warwickshire, yet he was watchful and composed which, considering his previous sufferings and the fact that he was ill until the afternoon before the start of the match, was tribute in itself.

With Denness he put on 105 for the first wicket--the first three-figure opening partnership for England in fifteen Test Matches. Amiss was only seriously flawed once, when Mushtaq at second slip dropped him off Saleem Altaf when he had made fifty. Unfortunately from this rare and encouraging start, England's batting declined so that the total of 355 was disappointing. The last five wickets fell for 25 in fifty minutes.

The Pakistan opening pair, Sadiq Mohammad and Talat Ali, were in similar form, putting on 99 for their first wicket. The left-handed Sadiq went on to make 119 in six and a quarter hours, a slow rate of progress but seldom dull for he periodically produced an impressive cover drive to counter bowlers who were attacking a suspected weakness around the off-stump. Thus in a few weeks Sadiq had scored hundreds against Australia, New Zealand and England.

Yet the memorable innings of the match came from Asif Iqbal who in almost three hours less than Sadiq compiled his third hundred against England. It was the first part of the innings, 77 runs, which ended at the close of play on the third day which will be remembered most clearly for its languid, classical stroke play. He drove and cut with immense power and took singles that were little less than cruel to a side who had fielded willingly and well. In one over from Greig near the end of the day when most other batsmen would have been thinking in terms of safety, he drove three 4's. Yet the hallmark was stamped on his innings by the way he played his Kent colleague Underwood, England's best bowler and a notoriously hard man to hit because of his flat trajectory. Yet two or three times Asif came down the pitch to drive him straight for fours with strokes that were almost insolent in a Test match.

For Pakistan to establish a dominating position--at the end of the third day they were only eight runs behind with five wickets left-- Asif had to display the same form when the match resumed. That he did not was mainly due to the bowlers' collective theory that the hook was the least controlled of his strokes. He received a ration of bouncers, some of which he mishit and one of which, at 80, he hit to Pocock on the fine leg boundary who misjudged it and dropped it. Arnold, who bowled with great accuracy and stamina in this match for little tangible reward, was the bowler.

At 102 Asif was caught in the covers off Arnold, and so Pakistan's first innings lead was restricted to 67. That looked insignificant enough until Intikhab showed that his wrist-spin possessed a menace on this ageing pitch lacked by England's finger spinners. By the close of play on the fourth day he had dismissed Amiss, Roope second ball for nought, and Denness for a well-played 68. The position became more dangerous when Fletcher, too, went to Intikhab next morning with England's lead only 87. Then, on a pitch from which the ball was often spinning erratically, Lewis, 74, and Greig, 72, produced a blend of wariness and aggression that did them credit.