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Bell adamant England batsmen have hunger to atone
England’s batsmen have obvious questions to answer as the tourists try to escape Dubai without a 3-0 Test series whitewash against Pakistan.
Four of the first six in the order have mustered a combined 162 runs from 16 attempts on the fast route to back-to-back defeats over the last two weeks.
They can, therefore, barely lay claim to a double-figure average between them, and no-one is seriously suggesting the blame for England’s collective fall from grace in the United Arab Emirates belongs anywhere else.
Ian Bell certainly is not, and knows he and his team-mates simply must work out how to come to terms with Pakistan spin in these alien conditions in the third and final Test, starting at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Friday.
Before then, Bell acknowledges that there will be calls from outside the camp for all sorts of remedies, including for a shake-up in the batting order, or even changes of personnel.
“You can accept that,” he said.
“You have to score runs consistently all the time. This unit has done that for a long period of time.
“But we have had two bad Tests – and, of course, people are going to be asking questions.
“That is the reality of it. We expect that.”
England spent three hours, in two groups in the heat of the afternoon at the ICC’s GCA nets yesterday, working exclusively on batting against spin from net bowlers.
It is clear and inevitable where their focus must lie, fathoming out a technical approach which means they can get established at the crease before Saeed Ajmal or Abdur Rehman makes short work of them again.
Little they can do in net practice will replicate the mental pressures of Test match batting, though, in such vexed circumstances as those which saw them bowled out for just 72 in Abu Dhabi last week.
Bell believes nonetheless that England’s problems have come in physical reality as well as in the mind.
“I’m not too sure about that,” he said. “We’ve played some really good cricket around the world, and the last bit of the jigsaw is playing in the sub-continent.
“We are looking at areas we can improve mentally and technically. We are all hungry enough, and have scored runs in the sub-continent.”
Former Test opener Phil Jaques will bring his Australian domestic career to an end at the conclusion of New South Wales’ 2011-12 campaign.
Jaques, who represented Australia in 11 Test matches and six one-day internationals, will join Yorkshire after this season ends and will play as a local player on a British passport.
The 32-year-old, who also played for Yorkshire in 2004 and 2005, has been one of the Blues’ best and most consistent performers in recent times, scoring 5,659 runs at 41.30 in 77 Sheffield Shield matches and 2340 runs at 39.66 across 66 Ryobi Cup games.
The opener was establishing himself at Test level for Australia before a back injury brought an abrupt end to his five-day career in 2008 after he had amassed 902 runs at 47.47 and registered three centuries and six 50s.
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