Alastair Cook leads England's fight

Alastair Cook celebrates his century during the third day's play of the first Test against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi. - Photo by Nezar Balout

And just as suddenly, England seem to be having a different look about them now. None had given them a chance in the run-up to the Ashes against their old foes Australia and we know what happened to that story.
None backed them in the lead up to this series against Pakistan, their previous sojourn to these shores three years ago, a case in point. England were also shorn of the likes of Andrew Strauss, then their captain, the infamous KP, Jonathan Trott, Matt Prior and Graeme Swann.
This was a relatively young squad with only four members - captain Alastair Cook, Ian Bell, Stuart Broad and James Anderson - surviving that desert mauling.
But then, England have arrived having learnt a few lessons and also with meticulous planning. They have one of the greatest batsmen of all-time and one of the best who played spin - Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardene, wearing the England training gear and an Australian tactician in Trevor Bayliss.
Yet, this is a new and young England and the jury is still out as there will be more tougher days to come. But Cook and his men had one of their best days on this trip.
Having made to labour for close to two days by a run-hungry Pakistan, England sung from the same song sheet and deflected it back to Misbah-ul Haq's men in this Abu Dhabi Test.
And it was Cook, forever questioned, who held all of it together. The 30-year-old, who had spoken of the hard graft required, survival, as well as playing positively, strode to a magnificent and unbeaten 168 as England served up a perfect riposte to Pakistan's 523-8 declared.
Cook notched up his 28th Test hundred and his first in the UAE, while Bell scored his 46th half-century as England ended the day on 290 for three at the Zayed Cricket Stadium on Thursday.
England negotiated Misbah's handicapped attack to blunt Pakistan on the third day. It could have been all England on the day but Pakistan, who had prised out opener Moeen Ali in the morning but then went wicketless for most of the day, struck with two quick wickets at the fag end to leave it tantalisingly poised.
England are still 233 runs in arrears and vice-captain Joe Root will resume with Cook on the morrow, on three, after Pakistan had removed Bell and nightwatchman Mark Wood in quick succession.
Cook, whose previous in Abu Dhabi was 94, laid the groundwork with Moeen Ali, the seventh partner, since Strauss, to walk out with him before building on it with Ian Bell.
Cook punched left-arm pacer Wahab Riaz through covers to log his eighth century in Asia. The southpaw clearly relishes subcontinental pitches. Cook also joined former South African No.3 Jacques Kallis as one of the few batsmen who has the most hundreds by a non-Asian in Asia. Kallis did it in 44 innings, while Cook took seven innings less to get there. He is also the top run scorer in Tests this year with 1075 runs with three hundreds and six 50s in 11 Tests. Teammate Root is behind him with 1004 runs.
Meanwhile, for Pakistan, leg spinner Yasir Shah's injury on the eve of the Test, may come to haunt them. Zulfiqar Babar was their lone specialist tweaker, and the left-arm spinner was unlucky to end the day without a wicket, even though he had managed to beat Cook on a couple of occasions and had also tied down Bell.
Pakistan had to operate with only Babar for most of the morning session as part-time off-spinner Shoaib Malik was not allowed to bowl until half-hour before lunch, after having stayed off the field following his heroic innings.
Cook added 116 with Moeen, England's sixth hundred opening partnership since Strauss retired in 2012, and the third this year.
He then put together 165 with Bell, who was scratchy initially, but went on to be the perfect foil for Cook.After rookie pacer Imran Khan removed Moeen, Riaz gobbled Bell and Wood.
james@khaleejtimes.com