England’s nervy attempt to reach 145 to win the second Test and level their three-match series against Pakistan faltered to a hapless 39 for four by tea on day four at the Zayed Stadium.

After Monty Panesar’s six for 62 had helped to bowl Pakistan out for 214, England lost Alastair Cook, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen and Eoin Morgan in 22 overs of tortured batting almost exclusively against spin.

They were mighty lucky not to be minus captain Andrew Strauss too, following a third-umpire ruling which surprisingly reprieved him on a bat-pad decision.

Cook was first to go, caught and bowled by Mohammad Hafeez as England’s openers struggled to find scoring opportunities past well-set fields as the slow bowlers tested attack and defence on a turning pitch.

Bell was in at number three in place of Jonathan Trott, who spent time off the field because of tummy trouble in the morning and must therefore wait until after tea to bat.

His replacement went in unfortunate circumstances, a diffident defensive shot to Saeed Ajmal played with such soft hands that the ball somehow rolled back between the batsman’s legs and on to the base of the stumps – just hard enough to dislodge a bail.

If Bell’s luck was out, Strauss’ had surely been in a few moments earlier.

He was on 16 when the ball appeared to run off the face of the bat, on to his pad, before being caught low down by Azhar Ali at short-leg off Abdur Rehman.

After consulting slow-motion video replay, it was unexpectedly concluded that the ball did not carry.

Rehman, however, instead soon had Kevin Pietersen lbw pushing forward – even after an England DRS – and two balls later Eoin Morgan missed one that turned and kept low to go for a duck.