Pakistan v England: defeated captain Andrew Strauss says tourists will learns from first Test mistakes

Andrew Strauss insisted England will learn from their mistakes and not panic after Pakistan condemned his team to one the biggest defeats of his captaincy career in the opening Test in Dubai.

By Telegraph staff and agencies2:55PM GMT 19 Jan 2012

andrew strauss

Strauss’s first Test defeat since losing in Perth 13 months ago was caused by two abject batting performances with only some late hitting by Graeme Swann preventing England from losing by an innings.

“We have plenty of things to ponder but we are not going to push the panic button,” said Strauss. “We need to come back strongly and show our character and resilience. We need to learn our lessons and we will be coming back better in the second Test.

“Our preparation has been very good and we played some good cricket in the warm-up games but we did not react well enough to the conditions here.

“To lose five wickets early in the first innings was a massive blow. Their spinners put our batsmen under pressure and we could not release that pressure. We are not going to make any excuses. We just did not play very well.”

Strauss’ side bounced back from the defeat in Perth to win the next two Tests against Australia by an innings but the conditions in the UAE mirror those in the sub-continent where England teams have struggled for more than a decade. It was this weakness Strauss hoped to conquer this year.

“The bowlers did exceptionally well to bowl Pakistan out on that surface and that is not really where we are focussing our attention,” he said. “We needed to get around 300-400 on the board in the first innings. They were very solid and they have good balance in their bowling attack so full credit to Pakistan. We were caught of guard in that first session on the first day and Pakistan never let us back in.”

For Misbah-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain, this victory is the biggest of his career and builds on a successful 12 months since the spot fixing scandals of 2012. While Strauss was trying not to get too carried away in defeat, Misbah was equally level headed in victory. “We are trying to be one of the best teams in the world but we have a long way to go,” he said. “We are on the right path and just trying to keep doing what we are doing well at the moment. It was a wonderful performance by our bowlers. They stucj to their task and it was a the variations of Saeed Ajmal that made England’s batsmen make mistakes.”

Source: Telegraph UK