Third Test: Pietersen Rides Luck to Leave England on Top

There is an advertisement for urban cricket which is shown on the sightscreen behind the striker between overs. It incorporates a giant mugshot of Kevin Pietersen gazing moodily down the pitch and, for the three-and-a-half hours it took for him to score his fifth Test century and third of the international summer, he must have liked very much what he saw.

Pietersen had made 104 yesterday before persistent cramp in his left arm, the end of which he uses for little more than somewhere to store his other glove, forced him to retire to the dressing room.

As he had just that minute been dropped by Salman Butt at midwicket, it was a shrewd move: he can start afresh this morning to torment further a Pakistan attack that deserved more from Dame Fortune and umpires in equal measure. Butts it seems are not just the bane of French footballers and Irish jockeys.

England, opting to bat first on a dry pitch and running the risk of some trouble under overcast skies, had reached 347 for six by the close, a useful if not insurmountable situation that nevertheless flattered them.

Until Ian Bell (66 not out) and Chris Read (38) made hay in the evening sunshine against tired bowling, old ball and new, with a stand of 86, ended when Read was lbw with the close in sight, it had scarcely been a day of unblemished batting perfection.

Three times England were the beneficiary of umpiring calls that were careless beyond the usual benefit of the doubt. On 35 Andrew Strauss edged a straightforward catch to the keeper, only for Darrell Hair to turn down the appeal. That he made one more run only before edging to second slip is scant consolation.

Next, in quick succession, Pietersen, then two, got a significant inside edge which kissed his thigh pad before going through once more to Kamran Akmal. Again Hair failed to acknowledge the edge. Alastair Cook, for his part, had made only eight when he too got an inside edge to Akmal, and this time the other umpire Billy Doctrove failed to spot a large deflection to the keeper. Even Inzamam-ul-Haq got animated at that, even if Cook too failed to capitalise, making a further 15 only before chipping a return catch.

Pietersen, though, rode his luck with the panache of a rodeo star. On 29 he edged Shahid Nazir - a seamer in his first Test for seven years and sufferer-in-chief yesterday - to Akmal again. This time it was Hair's no-ball call that disrupted premature celebrations, disappointment then topped with ignominy as the keeper threw the ball away and Pietersen added one more run to his score.

Just once, too, he might have been lbw as Danish Kaneria's leg-break pitched on the line of and perhaps would have clipped the top of middle stump, although Hair, not unfairly, felt that, as Pietersen was so far forward he was almost trampling on him, it was hard to be definite.

Around this Pietersen played a compelling innings, at once brutal, innovative and utterly confident to the point of arrogance. He can be technically perfect in defence, which characterises all the great players, but then plays variations on a theme that are unavailable to others.

If this is an urban cricketer, then he is in the back streets when he stands tall and simply flogs the ball without ceremony through extra cover and then strolling along a Parisian boulevard in spring when perfect balance takes him down the pitch to loft Kaneria elegantly over the long-on boundary with a full slow swing of his arms.

He is a cricketer in a hurry, though, who would probably bat with a mobile phone clamped to his ear if he could, simultaneously wheeling deals.

It took five balls to whistle him through the nineties to his century: Mohammad Sami clipped through midwicket, flayed wickedly through extra cover and then sharply on-driven to the football stand with sumptuous solidity to take his score to 99.

In between times his forearm had started to seize and twice he received treatment. Inzamam somehow flopped on a further belt into the covers, smothering the ball with his bulk, to prevent a fourth successive boundary but a pivot to a short delivery sparked the customary extravagant celebrations. So far he has hit 15 fours and two sixes.

In the cool of the after-match dressing room, however, Pakistan may have chosen to reflect on the manner in which, with the exception of Nazir, they failed to exploit the pitch. The cloud cover at the start offered something to the seamers as it always does but Sami and particularly Umar Gul, eagerly running down the hill from the Kirkstall Lane end, bowled too short to exploit it and capitalise.

Keep the ball up to the bat is the mantra here and you are always in the game. Drop short and pay the price. So Marcus Trescothick was able to pull with gusto, like a city lad in Chinawhite, until he clipped back a return catch, Strauss too cut and carved, Cook too briefly, while Pietersen was withering.

If this is the length they crave, then Pakistan need Shoaib back, and urgently.