Our batting has been under par all the way through - http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Andrew-Flower-c44362
England coach Andy Flower, on Tuesday conceded that their batting has been below par all through the Test series against Pakistan, which the English lost 3-0, something that had never happened in the history of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755-England cricket before.
The formidable England batting line-up was seen struggling against the spin of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Abdul-Rehman-c41625. The only managed to cross the 200 score-line twice in six innings, at the same time losing all three matches quite comprehensively.
Flower admitted that the batsmen failed to adapt to the Sub-Continental conditions and this led to the batting failures in the Test series.
"Unfortunately, our skills against their spinners have not been good enough. We haven't been able to learn quickly enough ... our batting has been under par all the way through," said Flower.
The spinning duo of Saeed Ajmal and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Abdur-Rehman-c41691 were simply outstanding in the UAE conditions, and they did not let the English batsmen dominate them at any stage in the series. Ajmal topped the wickets chart with 24 scalps followed by fellow spinner Abdul
Rehman, who returned with 19 wickets at an impressive average of 16.73.
Ajmal, the 34-year-old right arm off-spinner who is known for his doosra, recorded his career best innings figures of 7 for 55 in Pakistan’s convincing 10-wicket win over England in the first Test at Dubai. While the left-arm spinner Rehman returned with
6 for 25 as Misbah’s men outclassed the Poms in the second Test by 72 runs.
For http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MJ-Prior-c1984 compiled 150 runs from six innings.
The major batting let down for England were http://www.senore.com/Cricket/IR-Bell-c1597, compiling 200 runs between them.
"It was quite strange and surprising to find so many of our batsmen low on confidence during this tour. But we can do something about that, and are working hard to do so," said the 43-year-old former Zimbabwean wicketkeeper who took over from http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Peter-Moores-c81848
in 2009.
The Zimbabwean was hopeful of a turnaround in the one-day leg of the tour, starting in Dubai on February 13, 2012.
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