By Caroline
July 17 2006

England only took 4 wickets as the final day drew to a long and tiring close. What made it so difficult for England? I'm sure most England fans and players thought they would've won this test, but again a draw seems the inevitable decision.
Captain Andrew Strauss will most certainly be held responsible for letting his bowlers bowl for almost 80 overs, but will this effect his chance of him being captain again as Freddie looks set to take over?

Strauss continued to bat in the morning with England adding 38 to the total runs yesterday as he declared at 296–8.

It didn’t take long for Hoggard to get a wicket, as on his first ball of the innings, he immediately dismissed Salman Butt who was trapped lbw however England’s bowlers couldn’t seem to find any consistency with the new ball after this.

Yet again it was Matthew Hoggard to the rescue as he rescued England by getting opener Imran Farhat edging a catch to Paul Collingwood at slip. It looked set for an England win as Pakistan were now at 33-2, how wrong could we be?

As morning rolled into afternoon and the sun shone upon Lords it was up to spinner Monty Panesar to take the next two wickets. The spinner dismissed Yousuf, who famously got a double century in Pakistan’s first innings, with much excitement from a small crowd.

Next, Panesar had Faisal Iqbal out as Alistair Cook caught the low ball at second slip, this had everyone excited as maybe England could salvage a win after all. Yet after tea England couldn’t seem to get any wickets at all as at the end of a frustrating day it ended 214-4.

Inzamam rescued Pakistan as he got a well deserved 56 no, therefore both captains decided to call it a day and agreed to a draw.

I’m just wondering whether England have it in them to win The Ashes this winter, one can only hope and dream however with days like this you often wonder… what if?