Stokes embodies spirit but limitations hard to disguise

The sight of Ben Stokes walking out to bat at No. 11, barely able to lift his right arm horizontal, then wearing one on the chest from Wahab Riaz summed up the spirit that England have shown for vast tranches of this series. The collective will of a side can help to make up for deficiencies, but Test matches remain largely won by skill. With two days to go England need both spirit and skill to work in harmony if they are to leave with anything tangible to show for their stresses and strains.

With a player down - well, almost down - and the prospect of Yasir Shah in the final innings, with his ripping delivery to Samit Patel firmly in the memory bank of both sides, it will take a mighty effort to avoid a 2-0 scoreline. England can cling to the record of Pakistan chasing 302 on this ground against Sri Lanka in 2014, but that was a more benign surface even allowing for the fact that James Taylor said this one has become easier to bat on.

You would not expect them to crumble, though, over the final two days. That has not been their style in this series, barring that one vital morning in Dubai. The way James Anderson and Stuart Broad hurled themselves to the crease in the final session, each claiming a vital wicket, has kept England in the contest. A draw appears unlikely, so it's either 1-1 or 2-0. The latter would be hard to sugarcoat, but would be a harsh reflection on their endeavours.

Still, there would be clear reasons for it if that is the outcome. This was a match where a first-innings hundred would likely have been a matchwinner. Conditions were, tough, make no mistake but not impossible as Taylor later intimated. Pakistan missed out on the first day (although that has proved the toughest period to bat) and England, while doing a lot right with the bat, had four batsmen dismissed between 40 and 49 and another, Taylor, for 76 after he added just two to his overnight score.

Patel can be excused - he played superbly on his Test return, as well as any England batsman on the tour against spin - but one of Alastair Cook and Ian Bell yesterday, or Taylor and Jonny Bairstow had the chance to play the match-defining innings. Taylor, although in his third Test, looked the likeliest but could not get himself in again on the third morning (damn those third mornings, England must think) when he fiddled well outside off at Rahat Ali.

Bairstow battled as he has throughout the series - he has faced 357 balls in the three Tests, the fourth most among England batsmen - but was given another searching examination of his technique, this time by Zulfiqar Babar, before being completely set-up by one which skidded on as he tried to cut. Bairstow should come out of this tour a far better player, but in the immediate reckoning it was another middling score.

With one innings to go in the series, England still have just the single century - Alastair Cook's 263 in Abu Dhabi - and cricket in Asia is rarely won with such a low conversion rate.

Still, there has been enough evidence to say that England are progressing in their playing of spin bowling - although some players need more refining than others - but the same cannot be said of the bowling of spin. It was always likely to be this way given the limited hand dealt to Cook but the third day again exposed his difficult position.

Once again Anderson and Broad were pinpoint with the new ball and found reverse with the old but, in the knowledge there would be no Stokes to follow, relief soon emerged for Pakistan. Allowances need to be given to all England's spinners because of who they are facing and their rawness, but from somewhere Cook needed better control that he has had. At the close of the third day, the maidens count in the series was 98 to the England quicks and 21 to the spinners.

Given the lack of international experience of Adil Rashid, and in this match Patel, the onus fell on Moeen Ali who now has more than a year of Test cricket behind him. He has taken eight wickets in this series, but as part of his evolution as a Test spinner he needs to bring his economy rate down: it has never been lower than the 3.25 after his Test debut. It won't always matter if he goes for runs briskly in England, or South Africa later this year, but a spinner needs to provide control in Asian conditions especially after England had left out a quick and were then another quick down due to Stokes' injury.

His spell on the third day was a case in point. When he came on in the 11th over, Pakistan were 17 for 0. He did find the edge of Mohammad Hafeez second ball but it was a huge deflection for Bairstow to gather; from then on he was comfortably taken for 25 off five overs. When he was removed, Pakistan were 54 without loss and closing on England.

Cook is in a dilemma with his spinners. He wants to give them sweepers, understandably so, especially in a match as potentially tight as this, but it opens up the field for plenty of singles and strike rotation. Spinners are most effective when they can target one batsman. Like Bairstow with the bat, Moeen (and Rashid) should have learnt a vast amount from this series. There is a bigger picture to this England team at the moment, but the here and now also matters.

England can still level the series, and the spinners can still play the sort of role they did on the final day in Abu Dhabi, but given their resources in a discipline so central to playing in Asia it would be a remarkable performance to finish with honours even.