England players stretch during a training session in Abu Dhabi yesterday ahead of the first Test aganst Pakistan beginning today.

By Mike Selvey/The Guardian


This three-match series in the United Arab Emirates always promised to be a trickier proposition than even the Australians last summer.
On the last occasion England met Pakistan on this territory, neutral in name but scarcely in condition, they did so with a world-class bowling attack but were utterly bamboozled by the slow bowling of Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman, with the aid of the decision review system. Quality batsmen were reduced to resembling Bambi on ice as they struggled to get bat on ball while keeping their pads out of the way.
This time around, they still have the luxury of England’s most prolific ever pair of opening bowlers, but a callow spin attack to go with them. The batting, meanwhile, has elements that are still feeling their way at this level. Ajmal is no more in the Pakistan team but still the omens are not good for any more success now.
Perhaps though they will have been heartened by the sight of Yasir Shah, the wrist-spinner who has made such an impact at the start of his Test career, limping from the nets on the eve of the match, clutching his lower back, twinged, it is said, when he caught his spikes in the turf while fielding off his own bowling. Yasir has taken 61 wickets at 24 runs apiece in 10 matches, exceeding by a distance the number taken by Ajmal at the same stage of his career. He has variation, bowls briskly so is hard to attack from down the pitch and is accurate. His absence, from a team already without a leading batsman in Azhar Ali, would deplete the Pakistan team considerably. Without Yasir, England, bowled out disastrously for 72 here last time they batted, might just be in with a chance. The bowler himself though remains confident of being fit.
They will need to be patient though. Throughout the summer, the England team has swung violently between the extremes of being very good and, at times, dismal. Somewhere, experience will lend some equilibrium.
But this is the first time that Alastair Cook’s fledgling team will have encountered such a challenge, so the key will be whether they have the capacity to adapt the no-holds-barred approach that brought so much pleasure during the summer according to the current circumstance. To this end, the batsmen have been tutored by Mahela Jayawardene , an old friend of both Trevor Bayliss and Paul Farbrace, and someone who understands as much about batting (and bowling, in the sense that he would know what he would least like to face) in these conditions as any man alive.
Experience from last time here will tell England that it was not excessive turn that did for them but the manner in which the spinners bowled wicket to wicket and managed to skid the ball on through prodding defences. Jayawardene will have told them that they cannot afford to get bogged down, with men crouching noisily around the bat, but that the answer will not be so much to try and take the bowling on vigorously as work it around to your own advantage: no one was better at manoeuvring the ball into gaps than he. So, while encouraging a positive intent, he would countenance patience over recklessness.
But before they even get that far, England have a tricky problem with selection, attempting to fit a quart into a pint pot. While mindful that two front-line spinners have to play, there will be a temptation to allow the bulk of the side that won back the Ashes to continue their education.
Against that, though, should be placed the expedience of selecting players whose skill are best suited to the type of cricket that will be played, attritional as it may be at times. Cook’s opening partner is a problem, with Moeen Ali pencilled for a role on this trip that he has never hitherto fulfilled, and no place for Alex Hales. This is putting a huge load on Moeen, whose primary role is as the first-choice spinner: how would he approach an innings straight on the back of 40 overs in the heat? It is also odd that they have chosen an opener in the squad but are reluctant to pick him. Unless they do, Hales might as well not be here.
Further cases could be made for including James Taylor, at the expense of Jonny Bairstow or quite possibly Ben Stokes, whose batting against spin has been suspect. That will not happen. The idea that they will play two wicketkeepers in Jos Buttler and Bairstow is also slightly absurd.
Bairstow has been the player in form with the bat, while Buttler can scarcely score a run. There is little to choose between them as keepers although Bairstow’s experience in keeping to Adil Rashid at Yorkshire ought to be a point in his favour. Given the clamour before he was picked in the first place, though, there is a great reluctance to omit Buttler. Both will probably play with Taylor missing out.
For Rashid, this represents a watershed. His success in white ball cricket has been admirable, but there is a wealth of difference between bowling to batsmen whose imperative is to score quickly, with men scattered round the boundary, to Test match cricket where time is of no real consequence. The Pakistan batsmen will understand that he bowls slower than he might like if he is to maintain control over the ball and still spin it, that he can be played off the pitch if necessary and often on the back foot, and that if they wait they will get a regular bad delivery. It will test to the full his temperament. To this end, Cook will be relying heavily on Moeen to tie up an end in order to rotate his seamers.
In seven Tests here, no one, apart, oddly, England, has come close to upsetting Pakistan, whose batsmen have flourished: they have won four and drawn three with a degree of comfort. Under the circumstances, a draw this time around would be an achievement for England.
Teams
England (probable): Alastair Cook, Moeen Ali, Ian Bell, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Adil Rashid, Stuart Broad, Mark Wood, James Anderson.
Pakistan (from): Misbah-ul-Haq, Ahmed Shehzad, Shan Masood, Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed, Wahab Riaz, Junaid Khan, Yasir Shah, Rahat Ali, Imran Khan, Zulfiqar Barbar.
Pitch: Typical bare UAE pitch. Convention would dictate wanting to bat first, although twice Pakistan, who have lost only one toss here, have put Sri Lanka in and bowled them out cheaply both times, maybe because of early mist. The humidity has gone now though. Both teams will want to bat first.