Pakistan vs. England, 1st Test, Day 3: Pakistan Cooked in Attritional Day
England's batsmen, Pakistan's bowlers and even the assorted television and radio commentators who are covering the game were forced to dig deep in what was a tepid third day of play in the Abu Dhabi Test.
From 89 overs of action, just 234 runs were scored for the loss of only three wickets.
True, Alastair Cook enjoyed it more than most, scoring the 28th Test ton of his career to help shepherd a resolute England response to Pakistan's mammoth first-innings total of 523.
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Aided by century partnerships with Moeen Ali and Ian Bell, who scored 35 and 63, respectively, the England skipper finished unbeaten on 168 as he guided his charges to 290 for the loss of three wickets.
However, Pakistan's attack didn't have much fun at all, toiling away in the blazing heat on a flat, lifeless deck to make just three breakthroughs all day.
While the commentators, who, for the most part, had it easy during this summer's all-action Ashes, had to delve deep into their banks of anecdotes in order to keep things interesting for the fans and probably themselves!
Anyway, let's have a look at the major talking points from Day 3.
Life's a pitch
Somewhat incredibly, only 11 wickets have fallen in three full days of play.
Throw in the fact that Pakistan essentially threw most of their wickets away in pursuit of quick runs and that one of England's victims was a nightwatchman, and it's fair to say the track is placid.
Compare this to the Ashes when, while games were short and often finished in less than three days, it was a drama-filled rollercoaster of emotion.
Cricket is clearly at its best when the contest is between bat and ball, but this has sadly been lacking so far in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Not what is required for a showpiece game in a format that is supposedly on the wane, as per this article in the Daily Mail.
Captain Cook continues to discover new territory
Ten months ago, Alastair Cook had lost the ODI captaincy and, despite scoring a few runs against India in the summer of 2014, his place in the England's Test side was under pressure.
However, after overseeing a remarkable Ashes victory, the 30-year-old is back to his calm-assured best and scoring plenty of runs at the top of the order.
Today's ton, as well as taking him to joint 14th with Michael Clarke in the overall list of Test-cricket century-makers, means he passed the 1,000 Test runs in the calendar year mark for the fourth time.
Also, Cook is currently the leading Test run scorer of 2015. Not bad for a man who many people had already written off.
Spin Doctors
Before England's tour of Pakistan began, there was a lot of talk about spin bowling and how England would definitely need to play, at least, two slow bowlers in order to combat Pakistan's phalanx of twirlers.
Three days and 131 overs of spin later, both side's combined slow-bowling forced have managed to return exactly zero wickets at a cost of 421 runs.
So far, Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Shoaib Malik, Zulfiqar Babar, Asad Shafiq and even Ben Stokes have all tried to work their spinning magic to no avail.
Will a single wicket fall to spin in this game?
For whom the Bell tolls
England's Ashes win somewhat masked Ian Bell's struggles over the summer, with the diminutive strokemaker scoring just 215 runs at an average of 26.87.
The Warwickshire-man also admitted contemplating international retirement but after a few weeks of reflection decided there's life in the old dog yet.
Bell was far from his best today, and, had he been held at slip when dropped on one, the media's knives would be being sharpened as we speak.
However, although this was one of the 115-Test veteran's least fluent innings maybe the confidence gained from making a contribution to the team will induce a return to form.
What next in this Test?
While the match seems dead and buried, there is still, just about, enough time for something remarkable to happen.
Once these dry pitches start to break up, they can disintegrate very quickly, and England, still 233 runs behind, need to bat well tomorrow.
A few early wickets and they could find themselves under heavy pressure for a couple of sessions on Day 5.
Or, maybe not. Fingers crossed for some sort of action tomorrow.
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