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England captain Alastair Cook expresses frustration with law after being denied victory over Pakistan for poor light

The umpires call off play for poor light at the end of Day 5 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium

England captain Alastair Cook questioned the ‘letter of the cricket law’ after the umpires decided the light at the Abu Dhabi Stadium was too poor for play to continue on Day 5, with the visitors 25 runs short of overtaking Pakistan’s score with 6 wickets in hand.

The 1st Test between the two sides came alive on Day 5, after being slow progress of amassing runs over the first four days. Pakistan contrived to lose seven wickets for 71 runs and the last five for 14, to leave England with 99 to win.

The problem was the time and with only 11 of the last 19 overs bowled reserved for the day, the umpires called play off. 

“It’s frustrating but I’m just proud of the way the guys hung in there for five days,” said Cook, according to The Guardian. “Going from conceding 523 to then, at the end of the game, being the only side that could win before the light fades, means we have done a number of things really well over the last three of days.

“We came off around the same time on day four. The only query I have  is in the letter of the law: is it unsafe to play? That’s what I’m told at match referee meetings. Safety is paramount, but it didn’t look unsafe today.”

Does the poor light logic make sense?

Eight overs still to go, and the floodlights turned on, the umpires took the decision according to the rules set for them, to deny England victory. Ian Bell had just joined Joe Root at the crease, with Alastair Cook next up in the batting order. The umpires, and the poor light, clearly saved Pakistan from an embarrassing defeat.

However, the players did come off at 5.46pm, the latest finish in the match. The rule stipulates that the players had to go off on Day 5 at the moment when the light meter falls to the level at which the players went off on the previous days.

According to the rule, the umpires were perfectly in order to call play off when they did. However, the assertion remains valid that it surely would not have been unsafe to carry on play, the major concern for the framing of such a law.

While England looked set to produce a famous victory on a par with Karachi in 2000, when they chased down 176 in near darkness, the match ended more akin to The Oval Test against Australia in 2013, when their charge to victory was ended by the officials and their light meters, 25 runs short of the target.

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