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England needed only to bat out the session after tea on the final day to draw the Test and win a fifth series in a row. However, England lost their final eight wickets in the space of 60 runs and 22 overs.
Earlier Atherton and Trescothick had built a final innings platform from which a draw, and hence a fifth series win in a row, should have been the worst possible result. However, the other batsmen squandered the opportunity.
It is a tribute to the Pakistan team that they were able to keep fighting until the very end to secure victory in the Test. With two wickets down for 196 runs at tea most commentators were expecting a draw.
This series represented the battle for third place in the Test Cricket Ratings. Whoever won the series would hold third place. However, with the two teams so close it is not unexpected that the series would end in a draw with each team maintaining their position in the ratings.
England is at its strongest point since September 1985 and retains third position in the rankings. However, England remains a distant 86 ratings points behind second placed South Africa.
England's troubled period during the 1990s resulted from their continuing batting collapses. Since these collapses stopped around twelve months ago, an English resurgence has occurred and they have gained 40 ratings points over this period.
However, England gave a performance the like of which has not seen since the first Test against the West Indies in 2000. The concerning thing for England was that they also lost their last eight wickets in the first innings for 75 runs in 26 overs.
To make matters worse, England?s bowlers had difficulty containing the Pakistan batsmen and winding up the tail enders. There were also a number of dropped catches when in the field.
For the first time in nearly a decade there is an expectation that this resurgent England team will be a genuine challenge to Australia in the Ashes series starting in July.
From England's point of view this missed opportunity can either serve as a timely reminder or send a cold shiver up their collective spines.
The story for Pakistan seldom changes - they run hot and cold, sometimes on a session by session basis. In the case of the first Test, Pakistan was not so much 'cold' as 'frozen'. Once they had thawed they were a different team, as usual. Considering their innings loss in the first Test the Pakistan side showed great spirit to come back in the second Test.
While Inzamam-ul-Haq held the side together with innings of 114 and 85, the bowlers left it to the last possible moment to fire, more or less after everyone else had given the game up as a draw. To claim eight wickets in the final session is an achievement that should not be overlooked.
Pakistan remains in fourth position in the ratings and has marginally narrow England's lead. They retain a comfortable lead of West Indies and India. However, the Pakistan rating remains at a historically low ebb that is broadly equivalent to their rating in the early to mid 1980s.
The latest Test cricket ratings are: 1 Australia (1185); 2 South Africa (1144); 3 England (1058); 4 Pakistan (1049); 5 West Indies (1030); 6 India (1029); 7 New Zealand (992); 8 Sri Lanka (973); 9 Zimbabwe (922); 10 Bangladesh (806 - provisional).
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