England fill cause to be optimistic going into the second Test but the returning Yasir Shah and a pitch with more bounce and pace will keep them on their toesThe final day of the first Test in Abu Dhabi was a crackerjack but the preceding four days,even containing as they did some remarkable feats of endurance, did few favours. As someone rightly pointed out, and it was not a atrocious advertisement for Test cricket,simply because it was actually the real thing.
How that pitch was marked by the match referee, Andy Pycroft, or has not been disclosed,but it would be a surprise whether the International Cricket Council, whose headquarters are no more than a decent par four from the Dubai International Cricket Stadium where the second Test starts on Thursday, and has not let it be known that more of the same is simply unacceptable. whether the first Test was one of sheer drudgery for the bowlers,then the second is likely to offer some respite in the form of a pacier surface: seamers and spinners alike would be grateful for that.
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Source: theguardian.com