Dire England crash to Dubai defeat

ENGLAND descended to a hapless defeat inside three days after a second successive batting collapse against Pakistan at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

The tourists fell alarmingly short of their billing in their first series as world Test No 1, only Jonathan Trott delaying their downfall as they were bowled out for 160 to lose this first match of three by ten wickets.

By their own admission England batted poorly in their first-innings 192 – and it seemed unthinkable they would not perform much better second time round. Yet after off-spinner Saeed Ajmal – who finished with a match haul of ten for 97 – had done so much of the damage on the first day, this time England lost their top four to seamer Umar Gul (four for 63).

England captain Andrew Strauss made no attempt to dodge the issue. “We’re all slightly surprised by how things turned out,” he said. “We’re very disappointed with the way we batted in both innings, primarily the first – because it wasn’t a 50-for-five wicket on day one.”

His opposite number Misbah-ul-Haq had no such disappointments to ponder. “It was a wonderful performance by our bowlers, and Saeed’s great variations brought the mistakes,” the Pakistan captain said, adding that qualms voiced by former England captain Bob Willis about the legality of the off-spinner’s action are wide of the mark.

“He’s cleared by the ICC. They’ve checked his action, and he’s been playing for a long time in international cricket. I think you should just admit that he’s a good bowler.”

During an awkward 40 minutes of batting up to lunch – after Adnan Akmal (61) had earlier helped Pakistan turn an overnight 288 for seven into 338 all out – Strauss was the only batsman to go, in contentious circumstances. He appeared confident he had made no contact when Billy Bowden gave him out caught-behind down the leg-side off Gul. But despite the absence of a Hotspot mark on replay, Strauss was disappointed on DRS as the third umpire heard an apparently telling noise and saw no compelling evidence either that there was definitely no impact with bat or glove.

Matters soon went from delicate to dire for England after lunch. Alastair Cook got in an ugly tangle against Gul, another caught-behind down the leg-side, and then Kevin Pietersen went for an eight-ball duck after pulling straight into the hands of deep square-leg.

Ian Bell’s attempts to help Trott dig England out of trouble foundered against Ajmal, and he used up his team’s final DRS option for good measure after playing defensively inside a doosra and being hit on the back pad.

Eoin Morgan’s departure, caught behind on the back-foot defence to Abdur Rehman, was another crushing blow and there was then little time for any positive thinking after tea, especially after Trott had gone one short of his 50 when he tried to cut Gul but could only edge behind.

The end seemed nigh once Matt Prior, England’s first-innings saviour, was lbw on the back foot to an off-break that kept very low – and although last pair Graeme Swann and James Anderson did enough to make Pakistan bat again, it was a token gesture.