London: As Pakistan have not lost a Test series in the UAE since they were forced to emigrate there after the terrorist attack in Lahore in 2009, for England to win the forthcoming tour would be as much of an achievement as regaining the Ashes this summer — or beating South Africa away this winter.
“Yes, it’s definitely going to be a tricky tour with their history — in terms of how strong Pakistan are and their record in the UAE,” Alastair Cook, the England captain, said before his inexperienced but attacking players set off on their delayed flight to Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. They finally arrived early on Thursday.
“I think they’ve played six or seven series and haven’t lost one. That shows what is in front of us.”
Since 2009, Pakistan have played seven Test series in the UAE, winning three and drawing four, although they lost to Australia there in 2002.
“The great thing in Test cricket is trying to win away from home,” Cook said. “It’s getting harder and harder.”
In 2012, the only previous occasion England have made a Test tour of the Gulf, it was so hard that they lost 3-0.
“This is a very different side,” Cook volunteered as a defence. “Only four of us are going back. I think also that the pitches have changed a little. The matches seem to be a lot higher scoring than they were in 2012.
“The one thing I remember is that skiddy, back-of-a-length spin that is difficult to face. Rehman [the left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman] and Ajmal [the off-spinner Saeed Ajmal, subsequently banned for an illegal action] bowled well — quick spin. I think there was a world record number of lbws.
“Trying to force yourself to go forward was quite hard. With DRS now, you can’t just get your pad in the way and say you’re a long way down. If it’s in line, you’re out. We’re going to have to make sure we defend using our bats.
“After some of the cricket we’ve been involved with over the last 18 months, it would be wrong of me to say what I’m expecting. I don’t think anybody knows what to expect. We have to go there with an open mind, not too many pre-conceived ideas. What I do know is that we have plenty of options in this squad.
“We haven’t totally decided but we are pretty clear which way we want to go from the selection meeting. What is exciting about this team, we could go with two spinners and four seamers including Ben Stokes. That’s what has given me some real optimism — we seem to have a lot of options covered. Clearly, that’s just on paper and it depends how we play and react to conditions.”
If Cook has given the impression that Moeen Ali would open the batting with him, it has yet to be confirmed because the head coach, Trevor Bayliss, has been holidaying in his native Australia.
“That’s not the only way you can get all those bowlers into the team. Mo can be moved up the order to five as well as the top of the order,” Cook added. “It would be wrong for you to write at the end of this interview that Mo is definitely going to open the batting. Trevor has been away for the last couple of weeks at home. We have some sorting out to do when we get there. But we’re pretty clear in our mind what we want.”
Instead of specialist spinners in Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar, who won England’s last away series in Asia in 2012, Cook has two spin-bowling all-rounders in Moeen and Adil Rashid.
“I’m confident they can take the wickets, but in a different way to Monty and Swanny,” he said. “Mo has had a fantastic start to his international career with his all-round contribution. He’s not an out-and-out spinner in the way that Swanny does, he provides a lot of all-round value. Same as Rash.
“Monty’s Test record when he played was fantastic but Rash can also bring runs. I think he has scored more than 10, 12 first-class hundreds. That’s a real string to his bow. So we have a different balance to the side this time.”
England have only two warm-up matches, each of two days. “Would we want more? Absolutely. The guys have just finished the one-day stuff against Australia and are now going to the UAE, but that’s what modern cricket is and it’s up to the players to adapt. That’s why it is so hard to win away.”
— The Daily Telegraph
