Strauss admits England failings

England captain Andrew Strauss admitted his team were not good enough after they were bowled out for 72 in Abu Dhabi on Saturday to give Pakistan an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

England's second innings total was their fifth-lowest of the past 50 years, and the world's top-ranked Test side were condemned to their first series defeat since 2009 having lost last week's first Test in Dubai by 10 wickets.

"Individually, we haven't been clear enough about our game plan against the spin, where are our scoring areas are and we've allowed pressure to build," Strauss told reporters.

"Each time a wicket falls it makes it harder for the next guy coming in. As a batting unit we have to hold our hands up and say we haven't done well enough. No excuses, we need to be better than that."

Strauss has scored 68 runs in four innings and Kevin Pietersen 17 as England's top batsmen have struggled against Pakistan's spinners. On Saturday Abdur Rehman celebrated a six-wicket haul, while Saeed Ajmal has 17 wickets for the series.

England got closer to Pakistan in Abu Dhabi but barely improved on their mauling in Dubai.

"The fact we got rolled over twice in Dubai meant there was baggage going into (Saturday's) final innings," Strauss said.

"This is the final frontier - the subcontinent. England sides haven't done very well out here in the past, but we came here and approached things pretty positively and we thought we had a great chance to win this series.

"Test cricket exposes any vulnerabilities and excuses you have."

England will try to make amends in the third Test, which starts in Dubai on Friday.

"The batsmen need and want to show that we're better than what we've shown so far in this tour -- that's a pretty good motivation," Strauss said.

"As a side we want to demonstrate we can play in these conditions, which I am absolutely certain we can do because we played a lot of good cricket in this game."

MOVING ON

Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq said the hosts' convincing series win would help shift the focus away from the spot-fixing scandal that led to the imprisonment of three former players.

"It should do," said Misbah.

"Both teams are playing good cricket in a good atmosphere, concentrating on what's important - on the field."

Misbah paid tribute to his spin-bowling trio of Rehman, Ajmal and Mohammad Hafeez.

"Any team playing on this type of surface last and the kind of bowlers (Pakistan have) playing well, I think it's difficult," Misbah said.

"When you are not able to see which side the ball is going it's really difficult and that happened in this game."

Rehman humbles England

Spinner Abdur Rehman took six wickets as Pakistan beat England by 72 runs in the second Test on Saturday to clinch the three-match series, bowling out the tourists for 72 in their second innings after another abject batting display.

England, the number one Test side in the world, had earlier dismissed Pakistan for 214 to give themselves a target of 145 to win in Abu Dhabi.

But Andrew Strauss's men again failed to deal with the host's triple spin threat of Rehman, Saeed Ajmal and Mohammad Hafeez.

Rehman ended on 6-25, while Ajmal's figures were 3-22.

"The way the ball was turning it was really difficult to play left-arm spinners on that wicket," Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq told reporters.

"So we were thinking we can put pressure on England and make a match of it.

"It's a big win for us - even in these kinds of conditions to beat the number one side is a big effort from our team."

For England, only Strauss (32) and Matt Prior (18) managed double figures in the second innings, the tourists losing all 10 wickets in the space of 22 overs.

"Those (low) totals are the hardest to chase because you know you are almost there and it's easy to be caught between two stools, whether to be patient and wait for scoring opportunities to appear or to take the bull by the horns," Strauss told reporters.

"It's bitterly disappointing ... having done all that hard work you need to go on and complete the job and we just didn't play well enough, individually and collectively."

Alastair Cook (7) was the first to go, caught and bowled by Hafeez, who stooped to get his fingers to the ball inches from the turf.

Ian Bell (3) came in at number three in place of Jonathan Trott who had been off the field with a stomach complaint and the Warwickshire batsman lasted just three balls before deflecting an Ajmal delivery on to his stumps with an inside edge.

Kevin Pietersen (1) and Eoin Morgan (0) then continued their miserable form, falling to Rehman in the space of three balls.

Pietersen was trapped lbw after lunging forward to defend, while Morgan saw his leg stump felled.

Strauss had earlier escaped, deflecting a Rehman delivery off his bat and pad to Azhar Ali at short leg. Ali sunk to his knees to scoop the ball up before it hit the ground, but the third umpire thought otherwise, earning the England captain what was to prove to be a fleeting reprieve.

Strauss went lbw to Rehman, as did the returning Trott (1), while the slow left-armer clean bowled Broad through the gate as England offered little resistance.

Earlier, Monty Panesar bagged six wickets in his first Test since 2009 as England thrived in the field, but their subsequent collapse was reminiscent of their woes in the first Test in Dubai, when they slumped to 43-5 in their first innings and went on to lose by 10 wickets.

England opt to bowl

Graeme Swann won the toss and chose to bowl for the second match running, as England looked to replicate the methods by which they rampaged to a ten-wicket victory in the first of their double-header Twenty20s against West Indies on Friday.

With clear skies overhead, and on the same track that assisted England's slower bowlers two days ago, England chose to bring in an extra spinner, Scott Borthwick, for the seamer Steven Finn. The pace attack will be carried by Tim Bresnan, with Jade Dernbach's bag of tricks likely to share the new-ball duties, reports ESPNcricinfo.

West Indies have shuffled their pack after a thumping defeat in the first match, with three changes to the line-up including their senior paceman Fidel Edwards, who has been replaced by the left-arm medium-pacer Krishmar Santokie.

Danza Hyatt, who was one of only three batsmen to reach double figures on Friday, has also been omitted in favour of Miles Bascombe, while Nkruma Bonner has made way for an extra slow left-armer, Garey Mathurin.

TEAMS:

England: Craig Kieswetter (wk), Alex Hales, Ravi Bopara, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Samit Patel, Tim Bresnan, Graeme Swann (capt), Scott Borthwick, Jade Dernbach

West Indies: Johnson Charles, Dwayne Smith, Miles Bascombe, Marlon Samuels, Christopher Barnwell, Darren Sammy (capt), Derwin Christian (wk), Andre Russell, 9 Garey Mathurin, Devendra Bishoo, Krishmar Santokie

Be patient with Indian team: Srikkanth

Selection panel chairman Krishnamachari Srikkanth has described India's winless tour of England as a 'bad dream' and said the team needed to move ahead and focus on upcoming series, including the tour to Australia that begins in December

"Australia is the next target," Srikkanth told the Times of India, reports ESPNcricinfo.

"We have a couple of home series [against England and West Indies] before that and from those matches we'll try and pick the best possible combination for Australia. We have to make up for the loss in England."

Srikkanth, whose tenure was extended by the Indian cricket board (BCCI) at its annual general meeting on Monday, welcomed the appointment of Mohinder Amarnath to the selection panel as the North Zone representative.

"Jimmy [Amarnath] is going to add a lot of value," he said.

"We are delighted to have him around us. He comes across as someone who has plenty of cricket experience and that will help us in selection matters."

India were beaten 0-4 in the Test series in England, 0-3 in the five-match ODI series and lost the solitary Twenty20 as well. Srikkanth said the team's performance was the 'worst' during his tenure as selector.

"It happens and we have to be patient with the team," he said.

"We have to take corrective measures to ensure that things fall in place. You can't forget all the good things that happened before the England series.

"We won the World Cup and our cricketers didn't get time to soak in the celebration. Prior to that, we have done well in different conditions. This is a testing time for Indian cricket and we need to try out different things to ensure that we are able to come back with a bang."

Srikkanth said that while England were clearly the 'best side' and India were 'outplayed in every department', a number of fitness issues had compounded the team's problems.

The way the youngsters performed, Srikkanth said, was one of the positives to emerge from the tour.

"In my opinion, the youngsters fought well in the series. All the matches were affected by rain and the D/L method," he said.

"Plus there were a few injuries as well. What can someone do if Rohit Sharma breaks his finger off the very first ball he faces? You can't really control injuries. Now we have to move on and the next big challenge is to play to our full strength against England at home."

Tim Bresnan, Eoin Morgan and Chris Tremlett given ECB contracts

Page last updated at 11:40 GMT, Tuesday, 13 September 2011 12:40 UK

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Eoin Morgan (left) and Tim Bresnan won the World Twenty20 in 2010

England cricketers Tim Bresnan, Eoin Morgan and Chris Tremlett have been awarded 12-month central contracts.

The trio are part of a 13-man squad given deals until September 2012.
National selector Geoff Miller said: "Central contracts are designed to reward players who perform well consistently for England.
"All three have made significant contributions to the team's success in retaining the Ashes in Australia and beating Sri Lanka and India."
Although the number of central contracts has been increased from 11, Paul Collingwood has not had his renewed after retiring from international cricket in January.

ENGLAND'S 2011-12 CENTRAL CONTRACTS

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• James Anderson (Lancashire)
• Ian Bell (Warwickshire)
• Tim Bresnan (Yorkshire)
• Stuart Broad (Notts)
• Alastair Cook (Essex)
• Eoin Morgan (Middlesex)
• Steven Finn (Middlesex)
• Kevin Pietersen (Surrey)
• Matt Prior (Sussex)
• Andrew Strauss (Middlesex)
• Graeme Swann (Notts)
• Chris Tremlett (Surrey, above)
• Jonathan Trott (Warwickshire)

Bresnan, 26, made his Test debut against West Indies in 2009 and came to the fore with 4-50 in the second innings against Australia at Melbourne in 2010's Boxing Day Test.
That win enabled England to retain the Ashes for the first time down under since 1986-87.
Last month, he hit 53 not out and took 4-62 in the third Test at Edgbaston as England beat India by an innings and 242 runs and averaged 77 with the bat and 16 with the ball as England beat India 4-0 to assume the number one Test ranking.
Morgan has been a key part of England's one-day and Twenty20 setup since 2009, despite initially playing for Ireland. He also has two Test centuries, including 104 against India at Edgbaston in August.
Tremlett played three Tests against India in 2007 but was recalled for the Ashes Test against Australia at Perth last December. He had match figures of 8-150, despite England losing by 267 runs.
Miller added: "I am delighted that Tim Bresnan, Eoin Morgan and Chris Tremlett have all been awarded 12-month central contracts for the first time.
"Following his retirement from Test cricket, Paul Collingwood is no longer eligible for a 12-month central contract.
"We will determine those players eligible for incremental contracts in due course."
The England and Wales Cricket Board last week announced incremental contracts for Jade Dernbach and Craig Kieswetter for their performances in the past 12 months and both are likely to get similar deals when the list for the new year is announced.