England captain Andrew Strauss admits his team is yet to overcome their weakness of batting in subcontinent-like conditions after being rolled for their lowest total against Pakistan in all Tests.
Pakistan’s spinners bowled the tourists out for just 72 on Saturday in the second Test – the incredible 72-run victory inside four days winning Pakistan the series with a Test to spare.
Pakistan won the first Test by 10 wickets with two days remaining at Dubai last week.
Both teams travel back to Dubai for the last match, starting on Friday.
England flopped on the spinner-friendly pitches in the Gulf, and haven’t won a Test series in India, Pakistan or Sri Lanka in a decade.
“I said at the start of this tour this is the final frontier in a lot of ways – the subcontinent,” Strauss said.
“But, I think the fact we got rolled over twice in Dubai meant that there was some baggage there going into this final innings.”
Pakistani spinners have exposed the top-ranked team’s ability to bat on turning pitches: Kevin Pietersen, Eoin Morgan and Ian Bell have put up four below-par batting performances in the two Tests.
“Test cricket is hard and it exposes vulnerabilities or weaknesses that you have,” Strauss said.
“The good thing is you can overcome those … but we weren’t able to do it in this game.”
England’s bowlers gave hope to Strauss’ batting unit when left-arm spinner Monty Panesar claimed six wickets and dismissed out Pakistan for 214 after lunch.
That meant England required 145 to win with more than four sessions left.
But England’s run chase folded half an hour before stumps on the fourth day in just 36 overs with only Strauss (32) and Matt Prior (18) reaching double figures.
Instead of showing some aggression against spinners, England were caught by surprise when offspinner Mohammad Hafeez bowled with the new ball.
“I suppose it’s easy to get caught between two schools, whether to be patient and wait for scoring opportunities to appear or to take the bull by the horns,” Strauss said.
“We just didn’t play well enough, individually and collectively. Individually, we haven’t been clear enough with our game plans against the spin.”
