Pakistan vs England: Karachi 2000 offers tourists key to victory in UAE Test series

England's most improbable series win away to Pakistan was built on obduracy - and a helpful umpire. More of the same may be needed

The England squad of 2000 celebrate their victory in the dark in Karachi (Getty)

One of England’s most celebrated and improbable Test series wins of this millennium was achieved against Pakistan. It was so unusual and unexpected that its status will probably persist until the end of this 1,000-year cycle.

It was done against the odds and in the dark at Karachi in December 2000. On the last afternoon with a third draw looming – it would have been the fourth series between the sides to finish 0-0 – Pakistan’s batting collapsed and England seized their opportunity, helped by bold, cussed batting, loose bowling as the prospect of defeat dawned and the blanket refusal of the umpire Steve Bucknor to accede to Pakistan’s veiled demands for a stoppage because of the light as the over rate slowed to a trickle. In the gloom, the tourists won by six wickets.

After all these years it is still necessary to pinch yourself. It was a reward for England’s obstinacy. All they had done for three matches was hang in there. Michael Atherton scored the last and slowest of his 16 Test hundreds in the first innings, a model of obduracy, simply hoping a chink might appear in the opposition.

England will probably have to dig as deep this time in the UAE if they are to achieve something similar. They calculated wrongly four years ago, bamboozled by Saeed Ajmal and not sure what method to use to counter him, with the upshot being that his spin partner, Abdur Rehman, benefited too. Alastair Cook, their captain now, their vice-captain then, recalled: “The lessons I thought we learnt a little bit in the one-day series after,” he said [England won 4-0, Cook scored two hundreds]. “When you’re forced to play a little bit positively, you can put the pressure back on the opposition. That’s the way we want to play – it’s not going to be crash, bang, wallop like it was in the summer.

“We’ll play positively, but there will be times when you come in, the first 30 balls, when you have five men around the bat – you could have half an hour to tea. You’ve got to survive and get used to the conditions before you can push on. The guys are aware of that. We spoke a lot about it.”

Their discussions have mainly been with their batting coach, Mark Ramprakash, an admirable technician, and their temporary batting consultant, Mahela Jayawardene, a master of slow, turning pitches.

“A few have asked about batting for long periods and how you can keep going,” said Jayawardene. “We’ve spoken about a few techniques they can use that have helped me over the years. These guys are good at what they are doing. It is hard to concentrate for long periods in these conditions so you need to do certain things differently and preserve your energy so you can keep more in the tank for the latter part of the day.

“So being smart is one thing we have spoken about. Try to keep things nice and simple and then concentration and focus becomes much easier. It’s about having those little battles in the middle in tough conditions and trying to control those battles. Once you get through that, you get into a zone and start to feel very comfortable.”

The slowness of the pitches will be England’s biggest problem but the almost unfea sible heat – it is four or five degrees hotter than it was last time – will enhance their difficulties. They must then avoid being intimidated with men round the bat.

In all, England have won only two of their 27 away Tests against Pakistan, the first of all in 1961 when Bob Barber’s leg-spin took four wickets, and the win in 2000. Another one this time would show that this team are on their way somewhere.