Pakistan v England: Andy Flower blasts lacklustre batting display

Andy Flower has blamed England’s poor batting display for their Test series whitewash by Pakistan.

The tourists managed to make more than 200 only twice on the way to a 3-0 defeat in Dubai – and the England coach admits he was left disappointed by his side’s batting performance, after their bowlers performed superbly to put Andrew Strauss’s men in a good position to win both the second and third Tests.

“We were soundly beaten and it was a very disappointing result for us,” Flower told ECBtv.

“We came out here with high hopes of carrying on our great form in Test cricket and we haven’t been good enough to do that. So it’s very disappointing.

“If we batted better we could have won this series.”

The 43-year-old England coach believes the decision to use two fast bowlers and two spin bowlers provided his side with good variety.

“The bowlers were outstanding and they put us in positions to win Test matches in both the second and third Tests,” Flowers added.

“But unfortunately are batting didn’t back them up. The bowling skills have been excellent, their commitment has been excellent as well. And the combination of using to fast bowlers and two spinners has worked for us.

“So it was nice to see that combination work for us and that was an important lesson for us going to Sri Lanka.

“The skills against the spinners has not been good enough and we haven’t learnt quickly enough.

“We played two first class games and then three Test matches and our batting has been under par all the way through so there is a lot of work to do both in the lead-up to this one-day series which is very short and then on into the Sri Lanka tour.”

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