Friday 2 October 2015 10:26, UK
England must adjust quickly to conditions in the United Arab Emirates when they take on Pakistan - not least in the opening and spin departments.
So what clues can be gained from previous tours as the selectors ponder whether to open with Moeen Ali or Alex Hales, and consider how best to get two spinners into the team? Here are a few pointers...
2000: Pakistan 0-1 England
Mike Atherton - Tests: 3, Inns: 6, NO: 1, Runs: 341, Highest: 125, Ave: 68.20
Marcus Trescothick - Tests: 3, Inns: 6, NO: 0, Runs: 149, Highest: 71, Ave: 24.83
England's historic series win will long be remembered for its finish - Graham Thorpe apparently hitting the winning runs amid the impenetrable murk - but the foundations were laid at the top of the order by Mike Atherton. Only Yousuf Youhana (342) scored more runs in the series as Atherton stubbornly ground out the runs, his 125 in the third Test at Karachi coming off 430 balls at a strike-rate of 29.06.
Total innings duration? 579 minutes. Atherton bedded in early after England chose to bat first in the opening Test, at Lahore, adding 134 for the first wicket in 55 overs with newcomer Marcus Trescothick, whose 71 was to prove his highest knock of the series. The pair's second century stand in a row set the tone for a dogged series which went down to the wire before Nasser Hussain's men sealed England a first victory in Pakistan since 1961-62.
Ashley Giles - Tests: 3, Overs: 182, Mdns: 55, Wkts: 17, Ave: 24.11, BB: 5-75, BBM: 7-132, 5-fors: 1
Ian Salisbury - Tests: 3, Overs: 69, Mdns: 8, Wkts: 1, Ave: 193.00, BB: 1-32, BBM: 1-61, 5-fors: 0
England persisted in playing two spinners throughout the series - with varying success. Salisbury picked up just one wicket, that of Inzamam-ul-Haq for 71 in the second innings of the second Test, and the series-clinching win in Karachi would prove to be his 15th and final England cap. Giles saved the best until last - his top match figures for the series of 7-132 coming in that decisive victory. He ended the campaign as the second leading wicket-taker with 17 scalps, one behind Saqlain Mushtaq. Only in one three-match series did Giles take more wickets, 18 against Sri Lanka in 2003/04.
2005: Pakistan 2-0 England
Marcus Trescothick - Tests: 3, Inns: 6, NO: 0, Runs: 296, Highest: 193, Ave: 49.33
Andrew Strauss - Tests: 2, Inns: 4, NO: 0, Runs: 44, Highest: 23, Ave: 11.00
Michael Vaughan - Tests (as opener): 1, Inns: 2, NO: 0, Runs: 71, Highest: 58, Ave: 35.50
Captaincy weighed light on Trescothick's shoulders in the injury-enforced absence of Michael Vaughan as he pumped a magnificent 193 off 305 balls in the first Test to give the Ashes-winners the upper hand at the Multan Cricket Stadium. The left-hander would add only 103 more runs in the five innings that followed his 13th Test century, though, as he twice fell for a duck to Shoaib Akhtar.
By the time Trescothick scored a welcome fifty in the third Test, he had a new partner in Vaughan who - restored to the skipper-ship for the drawn second Test - promoted himself one place up the order in the absence of the desperately out-of-nick Andrew Strauss, who flew home to attend the birth of his first child. Alastair Cook was briefly in the selectors' thoughts but with the tourists needing to win to level the series following their calamitous collapse in the first Test, Vaughan's experience won the day but ultimately not the match.
Ashley Giles - Tests: 2, Overs: 75, Mdns: 9, Runs: 247, Wkts: 3, Ave: 82.33, BB: 2-85, BBM: 2-136, 5-fors: 0
Shaun Udal - Tests: 3, Overs: 74, Mdns: 8, Runs: 277, Wkts: 3, Ave: 92.33, BB: 1-31, BBM: 1-91, 5-fors: 0
Udal made his Test-match debut aged 36 in the first Test at Multan following an impressive haul of 44 wickets at an average of 18.90 in 11 County Championship matches for Hampshire that summer, when he often bowled in tandem with Shane Warne. Overall his return was disappointing but he did enough to retain his spot and claimed match figures of 5-67 - including 4-14 in the second innings - to help England to victory over India in the third and final Test of the drawn series that followed. Giles couldn't manage his successes from five years previous and had to fly home for hip surgery, missing the third Test, Liam Plunkett coming in for his debut.
2012: Pakistan 3-0 England
Alastair Cook - Tests: 3, Inns: 6, NO: 0, Runs: 159, Highest: 94, Ave: 26.50
Andrew Strauss - Tests: 3, Inns: 6, NO: 0, Runs 150, Highest: 56, Ave: 25.00
Alastair Cook became the second youngest man to score 6,000 Test runs after Sachin Tendulkar in the third Test but there were precious few other highlights for England in the UAE as they were whitewashed. The tourists failed to get to grips with Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehmann as 48 of England's 60 wickets fell to spin, too often trapped by the delivery that fizzed through.
Cook did seem to have the measure of the not-so-slow bowlers as he compiled 94 in the second Test at the Played at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi only for England to capitulate to 72 all out in their second innings as Rehman returned 6-25. No England player managed a century in the series, but Strauss - with only one ton in 28 Tests - perhaps took the biggest backward step.
Monty Panesar - Tests: 2, Overs: 141, Mdns: 44, Wkts: 14, Ave: 21.57, BB: 6-62, BBM: 7-149, 5-fors: 2
Graeme Swann - Tests: 3, Overs: 114.5, Mdns: 17, Wkts: 13, Ave: 25.07, BB: 4-107, BBM: 5-118, 5-fors: 0
After England suffered a heavy 10-wicket loss in first Test in Dubai with just one spinner, Panesar came in for the final two Tests, alongside Swann, making his first appearance for England in just under three years since saving the day with the bat at Cardiff in the 2009 Ashes. Panesar out-bowled Swann with seven wickets in both, compared to Swann's nine in the two. He claimed 5-124 in the third and final Test in Dubai, but would take only two more five-fors in his final nine Tests for England (both coming in England's win over India in Mumbai later that year, finishing with 11 in the match). Swann's haul of 13 wickets was his fewest in an overseas series for England since his debut tour of India in 2008/09.
England's tour of the UAE to play Pakistan is live on Sky Sports, starting with the opening Test, in Abu Dhabi, on Tuesday, October 13.
