England Suffers A Winter Of Discontent

The England cricket team flew out the UAE this winter on the back of becoming the top test cricket team in the world, however what lay in wait for them was a Pakistan team that were to burst their bubble in quite a spectacular fashion. Questions had always been asked about the ability of the England team on facing conditions within the sub-continent, and this trip was to prove no different. Virtually from the first moment the England team were in total disarray with the bats with none of the top order batsmen being able to cope with conditions. Even the players within the side that were supposed good players of spin bowling in Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell would struggle badly. The main architect of England's downfall was the spin bowling of Saeed Ajmal, the Pakistan bowler in recent years has become among the very best in the world, and on this tour he came into his own. The variations produced by this magical Pakistan bowler ensured England managed to score over 300 only once in the 3 test match series. His bowling figures were indeed a testament to the time and effort he has put into his bowling action over the years. Ajmal even managed to get into the heads of the England players prior to the series, by suggesting he had invented a new delivery called the Teesra, that would leave the England players wondering what delivery would come next.
Following the series the England coach Andy Flower commented that was a wake up call that the team needed, many pundits would say the writing was already on the wall. Indeed in the last twenty test matches played in the sub-continental conditions the England team has won only one. The question must now be asked is how do the England players do to rectify this obvious chink in their armour. Recently the Indian Premier League cricket has just started for another season, and one thing that is quite clear for all to see is that there is a distinct lack of English players that are involved. It has been suggested that this would be an excellent way for much of the team to improve their skills in Asia outside the pressure of test match cricket. With an increasingly congested fixture list for the England cricket team, this is something that the England Cricket Board would quite like to avoid in order to keep the players fully fit.