Mickey Arthur backs Pakistan to battle back against England
Wednesday 10 August 2016 08:42, UK
Mickey Arthur is confident Pakistan are ready to battle back at The Oval and achieve "mission accomplished" against England.
Pakistan's coach was critical of his own team after England levelled Test series 1-1 at Old Trafford last month.
But following another defeat at Edgbaston, which means Pakistan are 2-1 down with one to play, Arthur gave the tourists significantly more credit.
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"I spoke pretty frankly about the Old Trafford Test, (but) I thought we were very good at Edgbaston," the South African said.
"I do think we competed exceptionally well, certainly through three-and-a-half days."
He added: "I certainly did not feel we ever rolled over there. We'll come back, regroup tomorrow and get some clarity to our squad.
"Then we'll build for what is a really important Test match for us and one that we feel we can do particularly good in.
"It will be mission accomplished if we can get out of this Test match at 2-2 - that will be a hugely successful tour."
Pakistan must shake off the disappointment of having been in a winning position, only for England to surge past them to victory over the last three days in Birmingham.
"We were in the contest for most of that game. I counted we probably won five sessions, England won three. The sessions England won, they won convincingly," Arthur said.
Most telling of all was Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali's treatment of a flagging four-man attack on the penultimate evening.
"I said to the boys we were probably one wicket away there from breaking through," Arthur added.
"If we could have knocked Bairstow over, or Moeen early, it certainly would have put a totally different perspective on the game.
"We hate losing - of course we do - but we lost with a lot of credibility at Edgbaston, and (that) puts us in a really good space to come back particularly hard here."
