England coach Trevor Bayliss admits umpires were simply adhering to rules
A clearly irate England coach Trevor Bayliss blasted the outcome of the match between Pakistan and England, but admitted that the umpires were going by the rules, reports SkySports. The on-field umpires Paul Reiffel and Bruce Oxenford, had called off the game owing to bad light, with England on the cusp of victory.
"Everyone is aware of the rules these days, we went off the night before about four or five minutes earlier. We know they are the rules and everyone has got to abide by the rules. I'm sure it will be in our favour one day somewhere along the line", the coach said.
England were 74-4, needing a further 25 runs to record a famous win, when the umpires decided that the light was fading away too quickly and the match was eventually drawn. A similar situation had arisen the previous day too when play was called off early, due to poor light. Earlier, in a match which looked like a complete stalemate, England fought back well soon after declaring their first innings score at 598-9, with a lead of 75 runs.
In reply, Pakistan struggled on a pitch, which had finally opened up, and were shot out for just 173 runs, courtesy a 5-fer by spinner Adil Rashid. England were set a target of 99 to secure an unlikely win, in under 20 overs, which didn’t seem like much. But at 74-4 and still 5 overs remaining, the umpires decided to discontinue play, much to the relief of the Pakistani team.
England will win with a bit more luck: Bayliss
However, Bayliss was impressed by the performance of his team and believes England are adapting well to the slower wickets. "I think it's a sign for the boys that they are not only able to compete but that maybe with a little bit more luck or a little bit more time that they are able to win and are able to play some good cricket here on these slow turning wickets", he said.
Despite being inch-close to a win, England have plenty of positives to take out from the game. Adil Rashid bowled splendidly well in the second innings, which made up for his disastrous spell which he produced in the first innings. Alastair Cook rescued England in the first innings with his incredible knock of 263, which is widely being talked about as one of the best knocks by a non-Asian player in Asia.
With such exemplary performances by the visitors in the first match, they will start as the favourites going into the second test, which starts from October 22 in Dubai.