LONDON, (Reuters) – England should not change their team despite being “embarrassed” by Pakistan in the first two tests, according to former captain Michael Vaughan.
With a victory target of 145 in Abu Dhabi on Saturday, the world’s number one ranked test side collapsed to 72 all out to hand Pakistan a 2-0 lead in their three-match series.
“Personally, I would not change the team,” Vaughan told the Sunday Telegraph. “We have seen two embarrassing failures. Give them one more chance knowing a Sri Lanka tour, played on similar positions, is next on the calendar.
“Dubai is one chance for these players to show they are good enough to get on the plane to Sri Lanka.”
England have one more test against Pakistan and then travel to Sri Lanka in March.
Vaughan pointed the finger at England’s batsmen, who have failed miserably to cope with Pakistan’s spin bowlers Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rahman and Mohammad Hafeez.
“England have been embarrassed on this tour with the bat and you can point the finger at this team and say they don’t play cricket in the subcontinent at all well,” Vaughan said.
“That is difficult to take as a team which believes it is the best but even top sides lose when they only have two batsmen in the top six playing with authority.
“Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott are the only batsmen who look comfortable but they are not the kind of guys to dominate the game.
“They occupy the crease. The rest of the top six are struggling for technique, judgement, scoring options and, biggest of all, confidence.”
Vaughan said the likes of Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen needed to show strength of character before the third test starts in Dubai but dismissed suggestions that captain Andrew Strauss was not justifying his place in the side.
HORRIBLE
POSITION
“They can start by not hiding anymore and admitting they have a problem batting in the sub-continent on low, slow wickets,” Vaughan said.
“Pietersen’s technique against left-arm spinners is shot… Ian Bell is totally bamboozled by Saeed Ajmal.
“Andrew Strauss, is in a horrible position and that is a worry. He is such a good leader and a very strong man but now the team have started losing people have begun to look at his form and his average over the last year and a half.
“He needs a score for his peace of mind. When you are still not scoring runs and the team are losing, your confidence goes.
He needs runs for his own good.
“Forget about end of career predictions. That is rubbish. He needs runs for his own well being to give himself energy because you soon feel drained as a captain when you are not playing well and the team is losing.
“The job exhausts you. Strauss still has energy, he just needs runs to bring back the feelgood factor.”
In Pakistan, former captain Shoaib Malik said the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had done well to take advantage of treating the matches in the Gulf as a “home series”.
“The pitches prepared for the first two tests were good test pitches but played to our strengths. England’s rise in the last few years has mainly been dependent on their pace bowlers not their spinners,” Malik told Reuters.
Another former skipper, Moin Khan said that the victory was the result of the confidence and support given to captain Misbah ul-Haq by the team management and board.
“I think the board and management deserve credit for
creating an environment where the players are hungry for success. Misbah is also growing in confidence as a captain and has the support of his players,” he said.
