Dubai: Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar is tipping the Green Shirts to “hammer” England in their forthcoming Test series in the UAE.

Akhtar, 40, who was in Dubai last week to promote the Sprite Cricket Stars tournament, said Pakistan would dominate the tour that runs from October 5 to November 30.

“England has to perform at its best,” said Akhtar, who took more than 400 international wickets in a 14-year career. “Pakistan are going to make a spinning track and focus on reverse swing. The spinners will be a very destructive force.

“England has to survive the Pakistan spin attack, which is our strength right now, and I want them to come out here [in the UAE] and make a spinning track and hammer England.

“England may have won the Ashes, but they weren’t very consistent even though they won some of the Tests comprehensively.

“So I want the fast bowlers to come out and do the magic with the reverse swing. The pitch isn’t going to be supportive but it’s going to swing and it’s how you do that, that’s important. I think it will be a good series, England has a point to prove but Pakistan has something to achieve.”

Pakistan played Zimbabwe at home in May in what was the first international series to be played in the country since a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in 2009. Akhtar said that, thanks to the peaceful passing of that series, Pakistan could begin playing bigger teams at home within two years. Since 2009, they have played most ‘home’ series in the UAE.

“We saw the passion of the people who came in large numbers to watch the series,” said Akhtar of the Zimbabwe matches. “The biggest threat was for the crowd not the players. The stadium was full, the weather was hot, 50,000 people were standing. That’s how much it means to our nation, who are the most resilient and most passionate people.

“If we start with smaller teams when the dust settles, it [a home series against bigger opposition] will eventually happen. We’ll start with the small teams and bring bigger teams under the watchful eye of the government and then I’m sure we’ll see bigger teams coming to Pakistan within two years.”