Cricket-Pakistan complete England whitewash
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England were crushed by 71-runs in the third Test in Dubai to suffer a humiliating whitewash by Pakistan for the first time in the history between the two sides.
Set 324 to win on a pitch that overwhelmingly favoured the bowlers, England, as has been so often in this series, were completely undone by spin with Saeed Ajmal (4-67) playing the role of tormentor-in-chief.
Matt Prior (49*) and Alastair Cook (49) showed some spirit in an overhaul hugely disappointing batting display, typical of the way England's batsmen have underwhelmed throughout the tour, as the number one Test side were bowled out for 252.
Captain Andrew Strauss attributed the series performance to lack of preparation and a failure to come to grips with Pakistan's arsenal of spinners.
"If it has taught us anything it's that you can't afford to be slightly off in your preparation prior to the first Test," Strauss told BBC Sport.
"The first Test [which England lost by 10 wickets] has such a big impact on how the rest of the series pans out."
Reflecting on what England could have done better, Strauss added: "We've got regrets about how we played the spinners and maybe there are some important things we've learnt.
"Pakistan's spinners bowl slightly differently to your usual spinners, they put you under a lot of pressure and it would be a great disservice to them to say we lost the series [rather than Pakistan winning it].
"But clearly you can't get bowled out for 150 every time and expect to win too many Test matches." |
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