Well, really. All this talk of the Poms on the crest of a wave and, just a couple of days after the Australians arrive, England manage to bring the intensity of their performance down several notches from tremendous to average. One can imagine Steve Waugh watching and curling his mouth into a knowing smile.
We are demanding higher standards these days and yesterday had overtones of England's underwhelming response this time last year to their trouncing of Zimbabwe at Lord's, when at Trent Bridge they got the worse of a rain-affected draw. Maybe it is as well they get it out of the system now. Perhaps a bracing day at Bridlington would serve them well before the first Ashes Test.
It might have been better. Pakistan, with a makeshift opener in Abdur Razzaq and a novice teenager, Faisal Iqbal, at number three, were 92 for four shortly after lunch, three of the wickets falling to Andy Caddick. Thereafter Pakistan took control.
First came an exhilarating runa-minute fifth wicket stand of 141 between Inzamam-ul-Haq and Younis Khan. Next, after Inzamam was out for a stunning 114 and Khan for a hyperactive 65, Azhar Mahmood and Rashid Latif turned the screw with a sprightly 53-run partnership for the seventh wicket. Finally, the wicket-keeper and Wasim Akram added 49 in 8 overs, six of them with the second new ball before Wasim was out late on to Darren Gough.
The scoring rate all day never dropped below four runs per over and Pakistan will resume this morning on 370 for eight - Latif having played with great enterprise to make an unbeaten 64 - and in a real position to put pressure on England today.
This was, it has to be said, a very good first day batting pitch which meant for once the seamers did not have things all their own way. Pakistan did well to take first use of it. It was a blustery unkind day to spend in the field as well, interrupted by showers early on, and the stiff north-westerly breeze served to buffet those unfortunate enough to have to run into it. The ball too appeared to go soft early on judging by the number of attempts, futile as it proved, to change it.
But that is to make excuses: Gough nicked two wickets but was, by his own standards, innocuous, Dominic Cork toiled worthily into the wind, but found little joy, and although Matthew Hoggard's eagerness to please on his return to the side never waned and he picked up his first Test wickets, he clearly needs more bowling to regain his rhythm.
No one managed a consistent line and what was a clear policy of using the bouncer with men out proved disasterous. No fewer than 51 fours and two sixes were hit, many of them pulled with ease. England will need to bat significantly better than they bowled.
Perhaps the greatest symptom of a malaise though was the catching. Two chances were spilled, one at first slip by Mike Atherton in Gough's opening over and another by Nick Knight, off the same bowler as the day drew to a close. More telling was the catch offered by Inzamam when he had just 31 and taken by Alec Stewart only to realise that Cork had overstepped.
It takes nothing away from Inzamam who played with sublime skill to register his 14th Test hundred and his third in 8 innings. It was an innings of consistent pace, his half century coming from 69 balls with nine fours and his century from a further 66 balls with seven more fours and a six.
