Well....

[TheKentishFledgling]

That was embarrassing. England looked utterly hopeless against spin.

IMHO Pakistan weren't outstanding, England just were pretty useless.

[Propwash]

IMHO Pakistan weren't outstanding,

I think they were particularly good in two aspects: their spinners (although for the most part they weren't producing much spin) were consistently accurate in line and length; their captain set clever fields for them which stifled the English scoring opportunities, building consistent pressure. On those pitches they are a hard side to beat, even though their batting is generally hopeless.

England just were pretty useless.

I thought our bowling was very good, our fielding was usually sharp even with the odd mishap which proved expensive, but the batting was clueless. I am sure that facing "slow bowlers" who are in reality rather quick is not easy, but the number 1 test side should be able to cope much (much) better than it did. It will be interesting to see if they have learnt anything about facing spinners when they arrive in Sri Lanka next month. Thank goodness Murali has retired. I expect South Africa to have overtaken England in the rankings by the end of their NZ tour in March. That will add even more spice to the SA/England encounters this summer.

PW