Pakistan’s players will ensure smart watches are left behind in pavilion on officer’s advice
PAKISTAN seamer Hasan Ali confirmed last night that an anti-corruption officer asked the tourists to stop wearing smart watches on the field of play.
Photographs emerged on day one of the first NatWest Test at Lord’s of Asad Shafiq wearing a watch, which can transmit data if enabled.
A report on Cricinfo added that he was one of two players spotted doing so – and although it is unclear as yet whether the transmitting capability was enabled, it is anticipated International Cricket Council officials will check that fact.
At his close-of-play press conference after helping to bowl England out for an under-par 184, despite a battling 70 from Alastair Cook, Hasan clarified that an ICC official had spoken to the tourists and they will therefore leave their watches off the field in future.
There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by Pakistan, and Hasan said: “I didn’t know earlier that anyone was wearing one.
“But yes, an ICC anticorruption officer came to us and told us this is not allowed. So next time nobody will wear them.”
After Pakistan closed on 501, Cook reflected on England captain Joe Root’s tight call to bat first under cloud cover on a pitch he expects to deteriorate.
“I think it was a hard decision,” he said. “It will be easy at the end of the game to say whether it was the right one.
“Fundamentally that’s a dry wicket underneath, but it had green grass on it, and rained overnight. So it was a bit of a weird one.”
Cook suspects forecast hot weather over this weekend may well mean batting last in this match is as difficult as batting first proved to be.
“Lord’s over the last couple of years, if it does get hot, the wicket tends to crack,” he added.
“It could be one of those ‘first innings plays fourth innings’ games.”
England weathered some of the most difficult conditions only to lose their last five wickets for just 16 runs after tea as Hasan and Mohammad Abbas shared eight between them.
“We knew the first two hours were going to be tough, and we scrapped hard,” said Cook.
“But then from 150-5 to get bowled out for 180 is frustrating. It probably did a little bit more than we expected it to.
“Pakistan gutsied it out well there at the end. But 50-1 can be 80-4, 120-7, and the game changes.”
As for his own performance, England’s all-time record runscorer had mixed feelings at returning to form but missing out on a 33rd Test century.
“It is frustrating when you do all the hard work and don’t go on and get a hundred, but I played okay,” he said.
Root fell for just four runs, edging an attempted drive at a very wide but full ball.
Cook said: “We’ve all played a bad shot before, you don’t mean to nick it, but sometimes you’ve just got to hold your hands up and say you played a bad one. The bloke averages 50 odd in Test cricket - he’s a world-class player - so I don’t think we need to worry.
“Of course, you want to start the summer well. But if he scores 150 in the second innings it doesn’t matter, does it?”
ONLY Alastair Cook spared England’s blushes as they began their Test summer with a limp batting performance that handed the initiative to Pakistan at Lord’s.
Cook returned to form in his world record-equalling 153rd consecutive Test with a battling 70, but received precious little lasting support as Mohammad Abbas (4-23) and Hasan Ali (4-51) hustled the hosts out for 184.
After host captain Joe Root chose to bat at the start of this two-match NatWest Series, England collectively failed to handle awkward conditions and lost their last five wickets for 16 runs in under five overs.
There was still time under largely unshifting cloud cover and eventually floodlights for Pakistan to reply with 50-1 at stumps.
Root’s percentage decision at the toss had to factor the risk of early movement with obvious reward if England could avoid mishap.
Mark Stoneman did not, undone by the skill of Abbas as a faulty poke forward betrayed his uncertain form and saw him bowled off-stump.
Yorkshire’s Root, up to No 3 again in England’s reshuffled order, was given little leeway by Abbas especially in an impressive new-ball spell of 6-4-8-1.
It was to be Hasan who took advantage, though, swinging one ever wider, but at an inviting halfvolley length that Root – on four after 23 balls – could not resist and edged to Sarfraz Ahmed.
Dawid Malan was also soon caught-behind off Hasan, who ran one across him up the slope, and a third top-order batsman was gone in single figures.
Cook dug in, however, and his driving, as in his double-century in Melbourne at Christmas, was notably assured.
His 96-ball 50 arrived with a thick edge off Mohammad Amir to a vacant third-man for his 10th four, but just when it seemed he and Yorkshire’s Jonny Bairstow were gaining a marginal advantage in a stand of 57, the latter was bowled driving at Faheem Ashraf.
Cook could not quite make it to tea either because Amir produced a very good delivery that snaked up the slope to beat his back-foot defence and hit offstump.
If the charge at that stage was that no one other than the veteran opener had managed to graft out longevity, after tea England’s punishment was exacted.
They lost Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler for no addition in the space of three balls, and then debutant Dom Bess and Stuart Broad repeated the dose – all, like Mark Wood, to the bowling of Abbas or Hasan.
It was a slightly improbable lbw review that kickstarted England’s terminal collapse, DRS dispatching Stokes when it demonstrated Abbas had got one to pitch on leg-stump on its way towards middle.
Buttler went after a drive on the up and was superbly caught high at second slip by Asad Shafiq, who was also safe in the same position soon afterwards as Bess departed at the other end.
Broad was pinned lbw and Wood was last out mis-pulling to mid-on, to leave England’s bowlers 29 scheduled overs in which to return fire.
Only 23 were possible, but it was predictably a struggle for the tourists’ batsmen as well and too much for Imam ul-Haq who, in similar circumstances to Stokes, went lbw on DRS to Broad.
England should have had a second wicket too, just before the close, but Stokes dived across second slip from third and failed to hold Haris Sohail’s edge off Wood.
Hasan believes Pakistan made full use of the beneficial pitch conditions.
He said: “The pitch was fresh and there was a bit of moisture so I just tried to bowl a full and straight length.
“We had no need for the bouncer because we had a lot of help from the fuller bowling and straight bowling because we were getting help from the pitch.
“It made no sense to bowl a bouncer to their best men.”
Cook revealed he has worked hard to eliminate the technical problems that had been creeping into his game during a chastening winter in Australia and New Zealand.
The former England captain contributed just 23 runs in four innings against the Kiwis and had only gone past 40 once in his previous 17 Test innings before his half-century yesterday.
He added: “It’s something I’ve been working hard on. After New Zealand where, for whatever reason, I couldn’t get my weight back into the ball, sometimes when it happens so obviously with that you can go away and start working very hard on trying to correct that.
“I don’t know why it sneaked into my game, it probably happened in Australia as well.
“If you play a lot of cricket, things sneak in that you don’t want. You’re not a robot, things evolve. I’ve gone away, worked on probably being a little bit more side on.”