England left in a spin over their batting choices after collapse

The England coach has called on the tourists to show skill and courage, and prove they can after all conquer the demons of spinning Asian pitches – starting by avoiding a series whitewash against Pakistan in Dubai this week.

Flower has found himself delivering an all-too-familiar refrain so far this winter, picking over England defeats – against India in limited-overs cricket and now after losing the first two Tests against Pakistan here to concede this three-match series in under seven days.

There was inevitably more of the same on Saturday as he was called to account for the hapless batting which resulted in England’s lowest Test total against Pakistan, and another embarrassing early finish for the second successive match.

In difficult conditions, tailor-made for the talents of Pakistan’s spin bowlers, England’s hopes of making a relatively modest target of 145 to level the series foundered as they were all out for 72.

A spectacular sequence of single-figure dismissals dominated the scorebook as England were undone in less than 40 overs, and two-and-a-half hours, when it had seemed they began with a better than even chance of victory.

“We expect to learn and learn quickly – and that is a big part of our job, of my job,” said Flower, who spoke of England’s bowling and first-innings competence but could only lament what followed.

“I thought in the first innings some of our batsmen did an excellent job.

“(Jonathan) Trott and (Alastair) Cook were outstanding in that partnership of 145. (Stuart) Broad was outstanding; he played an aggressive, courageous knock to give us the lead – that was a match-turning performance from him both with ball and bat.

“But yes, there were familiar mistakes. We need our batsmen to learn – very obviously.”

If they do not, or do not appear capable of doing so, time may have run out for some.

“Continuity of selection has been part of our strength, but very obviously we have to pick players who are most adept at dealing with these conditions,” added Flower. “Indeed, that is what we have tried to do.

“We have lost the series now – and, of course, we have to go into this third Test and pick what we think is the best XI to try and win the game.

“If that means making a change here and there, then we won’t be afraid to do that.”

He cites the successful return of Monty Panesar as a second spinner in Abu Dhabi, after two-and-a-half years in the Test wilderness, as an example of his and captain Andrew Strauss’s readiness to make a tough call.

“What probably looks an easy decision in hindsight – to play two spinners – wasn’t an easy decision at all,” he said. “It wasn’t the easiest pitch to read, but selection is an important and sometimes tricky part of our job – and going into this third Test, there will be important decisions to be made.”

How exactly then did England’s batsmen go so badly wrong against Abdur Rehman and his Pakistan spin colleagues?

“We didn’t put any pressure on their bowlers in the second innings. We allowed them to bowl and create pressure.

“In saying that, the conditions to play against quality spinners were difficult – and we weren’t good enough.”

Flower still retains faith in his world-beating charges to demonstrate those table-topping credentials, even in an environment which has so often been beyond both them and many of their predecessors.

The alternative, after all, is unthinkable.

“This is a great challenge for all of us,” he said. “The issues are not going to disappear.

“We’ve got another Test; we’ve got a one-day series; we’ve a couple of Twenty20 games and then we’ve also got Sri Lanka and India before the year is out.

“So we’ve got to face these issues with skill and a bit of courage.

“Each individual will have to work very hard in working out his method of scoring.”

Defeat hurt Strauss more than any other he can remember.

“It’s bitterly disappointing to lose a game you should have won,” he said.

“I’d struggle to think of a loss that’s hurt more than this.

“It was so disappointing after working so hard over the course of the game to put ourselves in a winning position.

“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.”

It is abundantly plain, after three hapless batting performances out of four, that England have lost this series with bat rather than ball.

“We all know that. We’re not going to run away from that,” said Strauss. “As a batting unit, we have to hold our hands up and say we haven’t done well enough.

“There are no excuses – we need to be better than that. But if it was easy then anyone could do it – that is why it is called Test cricket.

“It tests you out with your technique and your temperament and your range of shots.

“We haven’t come up trumps in this game and there will be regrets.”