Strauss searches for the answers (From The Northern Echo)

Strauss searches for the answers

2:44pm Tuesday 7th February 2012 in International Cricket News

THE repeated failures of England’s world-class batsmen against Pakistan have left England captain Andrew Strauss and team director Andy Flower still searching for answers as to what exactly has gone wrong.

The 71-run defeat in the final Test, to complete a 3-0 series whitewash, is hardly a surprise consequence of a third successive collective underachievement from players who have so often proved themselves capable of so much better.

Throughout they have foundered principally against Pakistan spin in alien conditions – Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman have shared a colossal 43 wickets – and no frontline England batsman has managed to average even 30.

Ian Bell was under 10, Kevin Pietersen and Eoin Morgan under 15.

Those hapless figures ensured four sub-200 totals from six attempts, including one collapse to 72 all out in the second- Test defeat in Abu Dhabi.

Strauss and Flower remain convinced that their personnel is of the highest calibre, and England’s ascent to the top of the world rankings supports that conviction.

But while Strauss stated more of the home truths which have accompanied England’s two previous defeats here, it seems Flower is beginning to believe the four and a half months spent away from the Test arena before the series cost his team dear.

Flower told Sky Sports 1: ‘‘(We spent a) couple of months out of the game and not doing a lot, while Pakistan were beating Sri Lanka and working hard to beat Bangladesh, and that hardened them up for this contest.

‘‘Looking back, I don’t think we were ready. I shoulder that side of the blame, because it was my decision to give them that time off. We won’t let that happen again.

‘‘Certainly during that rest time our team and support staff were all being lauded, and while that was happening, Pakistan were working hard at their game and beating international opposition.

‘‘Consequently one side was sharp and ready and one side wasn’t and we’ve got to do something about that.’’ Strauss senses England’s troubles are not necessarily a result of their autumn inactivity, and the solutions ought still to be in their own hands.

‘‘If you keep getting bowled out for 140 or 150 you’re not going to win many Test matches,’’ he said. ‘‘I haven’t been involved in a series where so many of our batsmen have had such a hard time.

‘‘We’ve all got questions to answer and a bit of soulsearching to put into how we can do things better. We’re all proud players, we’re all asking ourselves the same question.

‘‘But I’ve got great faith in our batsmen, I think they’re some of the best batsmen in the world.’’ Strauss will not cower from problems which have afflicted him as badly as his teammates.

‘‘We can’t just completely ignore it and say it’s an aberration because that would be not doing ourselves any justice and not helping ourselves,’’ he added.

‘‘But I still believe the best players there are in England right at the moment are out here in Dubai.

‘‘Maybe this is a good eyeopener for us and a wake-up call that things are not easy in this part of the world.

‘‘With two more subcontinent tours in the next 12 months, things aren’t going to get any easier.’’ Many may advocate dropping out-of-form batsmen, but England will not easily discard any of the players who have taken them to the pinnacle of world cricket.

‘‘No one’s got a right to play for England forever, that’s patently wrong,’’ Strauss added. ‘‘But it’s important we take a little time to let the dust settle and start thinking about what went wrong individually.

‘‘There are obviously some regrets about the way we played their spinners, more particularly in the first Test match, because that sets the tone for the rest of the series.

It becomes more and more difficult after that point.

‘‘I think all of us felt more comfortable at the back end.

But the die had been cast by then.’’ Strauss is convinced England’s batsmen have made progress in their quest to combat subcontinental spin, albeit too slowly.

‘‘Before this Test we did some really good work on some aspects of our play against spin and that needs to be the launchpad to really take things to another level,’’ he said.

‘‘But we could and should have been better. If you’re a good enough player you find a way of making sure you don’t repeat the same mistakes.

‘‘We haven’t been good enough or quick enough in adapting our games here.

‘‘English sides traditionally haven’t played very well out here. We need to break that habit, that tradition."

England Ratings

ANDREW STRAUSS: The captain was not the worst of England’s misfiring batsmen. But his terrible shot against Saeed Ajmal to kickstart the first-Test collapse set the tone for further troubles. Strauss’ leadership and batsmanship will now be under immense scrutiny. 5

ALASTAIR COOK: Dug in twice, to especially good effect in the first innings in Abu Dhabi. Cook reckons he can read Saeed Ajmal 80 per cent of the time – which is almost certainly at least as much as anyone in the team. Still made four single-figure scores from six attempts, though. 5

JONATHAN TROTT: England’s highest runscorer of the tour. But with only 161, two more than Cook, that is not saying too much. His midwicket strength became a weakness here, toppling over for lbws and leg-side catches behind. England must hope that is a temporary issue. 5

KEVIN PIETERSEN: Just 67 runs from six completed innings is a shambolic return. Ajmal and Abdul Rehman undermined his swagger – and although Pietersen looked in decent form by the final Test, once again he could not make it count. 3

IAN BELL: Had a nightmare in the desert. He arrived here with plausible claims as one of the world’s best batsmen, but leaves with much to ponder – having found a series of weird and wonderful ways to get out cheaply. If there is to be a fall guy for England’s whitewash, he is most vulnerable of all. 1

EOIN MORGAN: Belied his reputation as a resourceful and clinical operator by getting out to spin five times out of six. He fared better in his final attempt, but could not finish the job – and there is no point picking an extra batsman who makes no runs. 3

MATT PRIOR: Did precious little wrong behind the stumps, and outbatted the specialists by 10 runs per innings on average. His unbeaten 49 on the last day of the series put others’ failures into sorry context. 7

STUART BROAD: England’s outstanding bowler, given conditions played into the hands of spin rather than seam.

Deservedly finished top of the averages, and his counter-attacking 50 kept the tourists well in the game for a while in Abu Dhabi. 8

GRAEME SWANN: Would have preferred more lefthanders to bowl at, and was often playing second fiddle to Monty Panesar.

He could not match Ajmal and Rehman either, and appears to be operating a little short of his best these days. 6

JAMES ANDERSON: Did not quite have Broad’s bite, but Anderson performed the seamer’s holding role admirably. England had no reason for anything but satisfaction with all their bowlers. 7

MONTY PANESAR: Returned to Test cricket, after two-and-a-half years in the wilderness, with 14 wickets in two matches – in favourable conditions. Panesar took one for the team too when he publicly blamed himself after the defeat in Abu Dhabi, despite taking six for 62 in the second innings. 7

CHRIS TREMLETT: Broke down again after one wicketless match 4

Test by Test

FIRST TEST
(Dubai, January 17-19)
England went into the series in confident mood but collapsed to 52 for five inside the first session, with Saeed Ajmal’s pre-match ‘‘teesra’’ talk possibly playing on their minds. The spinner took seven for 55, with five lbws, as England finished 192 all out despite Matt Prior’s unbeaten 70.

England were left to rue their decision not to select Monty Panesar as a second spinner as Pakistan replied with 338 and, improbable though it seemed, England’s second innings was even worse than their first as they subsided for 160 – Ajmal completing a 10- wicket match haul while Umar Gul claimed four scalps.

Pakistan were left to chase only 15 and complete a 10- wicket win.

SECOND TEST
(Abu Dhabi, January 25-28)
RESTRICTING their hosts to 257 after losing the toss seemed to give England a golden opportunity to turn things around, particularly after Alastair Cook (94) and Jonathan Trott (74) kindled Ashes memories with a patient second-wicket stand of 139.

Four wickets fell for 61 in another middle-order slump, though, and only Stuart Broad’s half-century lifted England to a still below-par lead of 70.

Panesar took six for 62 to spin Pakistan out for 214, leaving England to chase only 145, but an astonishing collapse to 72 all out – spinners Abdur Rehman (six for 25) and Ajmal combining for nine wickets – led to a dismal 72-run loss.

THIRD TEST
(Dubai, February 3-6)
HAVING reduced their opponents to 44 for seven on the first morning – and even after their relative recovery to 99 all out – a consolation victory should have been a certainty for England. They contrived to take a lead of only 42, though, collapsing for 141 despite Andrew Strauss (56) and Kevin Pietersen (32) putting on 57 for the third wicket.

Azhar Ali (157) and Younus Khan (127) made the first two centuries of the series, though, in a stand of 216 as Pakistan set England an unlikely 324 to win and, despite 49 apiece from Alastair Cook and Prior, they came up well short as the middle order again toiled; numbers four to six — Pietersen, Ian Bell and Eoin Morgan – finished the series with a combined 200 runs in 18 innings at an average of 11.11.