Mickey Arthur wants immediate Pakistan response against England
Tuesday 2 August 2016 08:31, UK
Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur has ordered his "warriors" of Lord's to bounce back immediately in the third Test against England, live on Sky Sports from Wednesday.
The tourists were comprehensively beaten in the second Test at Old Trafford last week as England inflicted a 330-run defeat on the tourists to level the Investec series at 1-1 with two to play.
Stern words have since been spoken in the Pakistan camp and Arthur, who said Pakistan were "steamrollered" by England in Manchester, predicts they will be back on their game in Birmingham.
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"We're going to have to raise our game considerably from Old Trafford, without a doubt," said Arthur. "I was really disappointed with our performance at Old Trafford - really disappointed with the way we lost there.
"There are credible losses, and there are losses when you lie down and are steamrollered - Old Trafford was clearly that."
The jarring disparity from Pakistan's famous success at Lord's to their humbling defeat at old Trafford was hard to take for Arthur.
"I told the guys I thought we were warriors at Lord's," he added. "We were completely the opposite at Old Trafford.
"We're doing everything we can to get us back on the right track, and I'm 100 per cent [sure] we will be come the first ball on Wednesday.
"We had some good, hard conversations around our performance. We were outstanding at Lord's, and very poor at Manchester. That's clearly not what we want. We want to get the gap between good and bad a little bit closer.
"So we've dissected Manchester, the guys are in good spirits and we're ready to play again. The overriding feeling is still one of confidence. The guys have been excellent."
Arthur believes Pakistan can profit by further exposing England's batting line-up. Alastair Cook and Joe Root have excelled in the series so far in contrast to Gary Ballance and James Vince, with neither player passing 50 so far.
"They are all quality players [but] at this level, confidence is such an important thing," he added. "They clearly know when they walk out to bat that they are playing for their Test places. So that provides another level of pressure.
"It's not just the opposition running in and bowling a cricket ball at you. Suddenly that pressure is intensified, because they're playing for their places as well.
"We feel if we can get into them with the new ball, we've got a real good chance. Clearly Cook and Root are the beacon of England batting at the moment."
Pakistan have a pressing issue at the top of their own order, where Shan Masood's struggles against James Anderson have resulted in six dismissals for only 15 runs in 57 balls.
Arthur declined to confirm whether Masood would be given another chance, but acknowledged the situation was a concern.
"We've had discussions. We've given that position some serious thought," he said. "We're very clear on what we're going to do this Test, but it's not for public consumption."
Pakistan's likely reshuffle option is to push number three Azhar Ali up a place and bring another batsman into the middle order.
"It has been a worry," added Arthur. "The thing I've said to our batsman is about the trend of dismissal. Batsmen are going to get out - but when there is a trend that develops,that's when it is concerning for us as support staff. Clearly, a trend has developed."
