In January 2012,
England travelled to play Pakistan as the No. 1 Test nation in the
world, armed with what they believed was as well balanced a team as they
could muster to compete in the heat of the United Arab Emirates. They
had grinders and flair players in their batting ranks, a stable of
impressive and varied quicks and, in Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar, a
spin duo to rival any that the game could then offer.
And yet, the Test squad departed, little more than a month later, wiser and humbler for the experience. They created opportunities to compete throughout the series, particularly in the second and third Tests, but ended up losing all three matches, thanks largely to the wiles of Saeed Ajmal. His flight, guile and movement both ways chained a tentative line-up to their creases and, with DRS offering little respite to anyone using their pads as a second line of defence, England accumulated the lion's share of a world record-equalling 43 lbws in the series.
Three-and-a-half years later, there's no Ajmal - the ICC's biomechanists have seen to that - but there's little expectation either. For all that they travel as Ashes winners, the erratic nature of England's recent record (see below) coupled with Pakistan's formidable record in their home-from-home means that a stern lesson in desert warfare is most likely on the cards this time around.
James Anderson, the leader of a seam attack that could hardly have done more to keep England competitive in the 2012 series, has warned of the need to eliminate looseners in the ferocious temperatures. Short spells on flat tracks with a dog-eared Kookaburra ball, against a Pakistan line-up adept at exhausting their opponents through crease occupation before flogging their bowlers with often stunning injections of tempo (see Misbah-ul-Haq's 56-ball century against Australia last year). It's not going to be a challenge for faint hearts.
And yet, the Test squad departed, little more than a month later, wiser and humbler for the experience. They created opportunities to compete throughout the series, particularly in the second and third Tests, but ended up losing all three matches, thanks largely to the wiles of Saeed Ajmal. His flight, guile and movement both ways chained a tentative line-up to their creases and, with DRS offering little respite to anyone using their pads as a second line of defence, England accumulated the lion's share of a world record-equalling 43 lbws in the series.
Three-and-a-half years later, there's no Ajmal - the ICC's biomechanists have seen to that - but there's little expectation either. For all that they travel as Ashes winners, the erratic nature of England's recent record (see below) coupled with Pakistan's formidable record in their home-from-home means that a stern lesson in desert warfare is most likely on the cards this time around.
James Anderson, the leader of a seam attack that could hardly have done more to keep England competitive in the 2012 series, has warned of the need to eliminate looseners in the ferocious temperatures. Short spells on flat tracks with a dog-eared Kookaburra ball, against a Pakistan line-up adept at exhausting their opponents through crease occupation before flogging their bowlers with often stunning injections of tempo (see Misbah-ul-Haq's 56-ball century against Australia last year). It's not going to be a challenge for faint hearts.
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