Into the fifth day of boredom....

By Ted Corbette

KARACHI, DEC. 10. The third Test flickered into life twice today when it appeared that Pakistan might gain a first innings lead of 50 and set England a target, and when three Pakistan wickets fell in the final session. Stern resistance by the tail kept the margin to 17 and there is not enough time left to force a result.

The rabbits turned 339 for seven into 388, and in 24 overs Pakistan could muster only 71 for three. But let us not get excited. After four days of boredom it would be a gross injustice if this game produces a thrilling result. Inzamam-ul-Haq was out a few minutes before the end but a Pakistan collapse is unlikely for, this pitch is still behaving itself. The game-and the series-has been a draw from the first and even the romantic dreamers cannot see anything but a draw at the last.

By the final hour, television was trying to pep up the programme with shots of the Press box, photographers had packed their equipment, the screaming schoolchildren had gone home and the kites which usually swoop over the ground had found a more interesting diversion. I cannot remember a Test with so little purpose.

Hick beyond any help

The day began badly for England; but doesn't it always when Graeme Hick is batting. He tried to pull a short ball from Waqar Younis to the square leg boundary and was picked off by that electric fielder, Shahid Afridi. Hick was gone for 12 when England needed a long, studied innings. Once again the time has come for his place to be handed to someone else.

Michael Vaughan should complete his apprenticeship in the Hick spot and we should all be sad that a great career has been blighted by Hick's hiccups. He has had so many chances since 1991 but now even his fanatical admirers from the Worcester tea ladies to the England coach Duncan Fletcher must admit that he is beyond help. Scores of 16, 14, 18, 0 and 12 might be all right for Ashley Giles, but from a man with 111 centuries they are not acceptable. Michael Atherton struggled on to overtake Wally Hammond's aggregate of 7,249 runs for England until he edged a ball from Abdur Razzaq to Moin Khan who took the catch one-handed and low towards first slip. Atherton was furious but he had been a pain to watch, however carefully his innings had been crafted.

Geoff Boycott could not understand why it had taken Atherton 579 minutes and 430 balls to score 125.

``I used to save Tests for England,'' grumbled the old slowcoach, ``but not beginning on the second day. I got dropped for my scoring rate but if I had ever scored as slowly as Mike I would never have been picked again.''

Atherton has batted 22 hours in this series and 784 minutes for once out from the second innings in Faisalabad. Other batsmen from Ian Botham to Aamir Sohail called it a magnificent innings but I feel the loud cheers as he left reflected the boredom he inflicted on the crowd.

Waqar claims four

Craig White, Giles, Ian Salisbury and Darren Gough gathered sensible runs, Waqar Younis raced in to finish with four wickets, a tribute to the selectors who gave him Wasim Akram's place, and the kid, Danish Kaneria, again showed what potential lies behind that baby face. Why Moin Khan keeps Afridi inactive for so long is a puzzle, but he thinks the young man is only half a bowler.

Salisbury and Gough put on 39 crucial runs for the last wicket without resorting to any unorthodox stroke play. Gough has discovered as much pleasure in the forward defensive stroke as his former biff-and-bash and Salisbury that he can keep a place by scoring runs even if his leg breaks are below standard.

England batted into the 180th over, or more than 12 hours and the ground rang with complaints about their tardiness. Their biggest battle is still to come. They have proved they can control a strong Test team and now they must take the next step by proving they can beat one.

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