IF, as people are fond of saying, cricket is a metaphor for life, then sometimes it works tee other way around. Yesterday evening, shortly after five o'clock, Wasim Akram pattered up the hill from the Football Stand End and produced a wicked break back that clipped inside edge of Mike Atherton's bat before losing it self in the gloves of the tumbling wicket keeper Moin Khan.

As Wasim danced his delight and Atherton trudged off, an alarm bell began sounding the Headingley press box. It may have been sounding too in the minds of the players sitting on the adjacent balcony, for after the best part of two days, England were floundering, with nowhere to go except to seek the safety of a draw.

A draw remains their only real option still, but the depression was lifted somewhat in the 25 overs that England were required to face last night for despite the early loss of the totem Atherton for 12 after one thunderous back foot boundary in, Waqar Younis' opening over, the response was spirited, led by Alec Stewart and Nasser Hussain.

Stewart counter attacked with brilliance, pulling courageously and timing the ball wonderfully well off his legs. By the close he had hit six fours in 51, made out of England's 104 for one, having added 90 in 22 overs for the second wicket with Hussain on 37 not out. However, it still leaves England requiring a further 145 to reach the initial target of 249 to avoid following on, and the ease of the batting should not hide the enormity of the task that still lies ahead.

Although Waqar was pummelled mercilessly for 37 runs from four overs, his new ball bowling has always been a relatively weak point. But Lord's showed that when the ball gets older and the Pakistani bowling geniuses pace and spin alike crank up a gear, the game can change in an hour. Recognition of the benign nature of the pitch now should not turn to complacency.

For two sessions, it had been a day of suffering for the England bowlers penance perhaps after the sins of the first day when they wasted the opportunity to take the upper hand. Pakistan resumed their innings on 281 for six, and were not dismissed until after tea, by which time they had made 448 with Moin making a vibrant 105, his third Test century, and Asif Mujtabe 51 patient, invaluable runs before he was caught at slip off Dominic Cork, the only wicket to fall before tea.

Cork's game persistence was eventually to bring him five wickets but they cost him dear, although all four seamers suffered. On a pitch that flattened out yesterday, but which for most of the first day had offered almost promiscuous encouragement, Moin proved a real headache for England. When apparently Atherton's team had reached the ground floor in the World Cup last spring, it was Moin who led his team to a win that took England's down to the basement. And it was at Lord's that, as a substitute fielder perched in at silly point, he caused even the taciturnly England captain to appeal to the umpire for peace and quiet.

Yesterday he ran England ragged. He is one of five players to have led Pakistan in the last two years, and is a talented batsman, with two previous Test, centuries, the first of which was instrumental in clinching a series win over Australia. But never a regular.

Just as Ijaz Ahmed had done on the opening day, Moin rode his luck, reassured by Asif's steadiness in a record seventh wicket stand against England of 112. But he had not added to his overnight score of eight when he flicked Caddick to long leg, only for Mullally to spill a perfectly respectable chance. And in the afternoon, when 84, Cork put down a sharpish one handed return catch. Earlier, when 18, he had hooked Mullally to Stewart, also at long leg, only to find Steve Bucknor calling no ball. Ijaz, when 68, had been let off in the same way and Test wickets are hard enough to come by without throwing them" away like this those two unforced errors cost 160 runs.

After his escape Moin played impishly, passing 50 before lunch and scampering the tightest of singles from the last ball of the second session to reach his century in a cloud of dust and triumph. He was finally out in the post tea gloom, heaving at Cork, but in just under five hours at the crease, he had hit 10 fours and a six clumped back over Cork's head.