England were beaten by the better team, a side adapted to, indeed schooled in, the conditions in which the series was played. If there was any optimism that they could beat Pakistan over the three Tests in the UAE, then it certainly did not come from this quarter.
The final tally was a fair one, and a true reflection of the state of the England team: which is very competitive in conditions that suit their bowling strengths and in which batsmen can feel the ball coming on to the bat with some pace; and not competitive at all on slow, grabby, turning pitches against quality spin.
In this they are not unique as the South Africans are showing at the moment. Alastair Cook was let down by middle-order inadequacies, despite the pre-series tutorials from Mahela Jayawardene, and spin bowling that may be adequate in county cricket but was woefully short when confronting batsmen who play precisely as Jayawardene would counsel and indeed did so himself.
The story next month, when the circus moves down to South Africa for the final four Tests in the 17-match marathon since April, will be a reversion to what they know. For the UAE, they tried, inadvisedly perhaps, to conform to a template that deviated from their strengths, to whit pace-bowling, and substitute spin, for the sake of it.
The batting was adjusted to accommodate this: Moeen Ali was strictly a temporary measure as opener as the only way to fit Adil Rashid into the side. It is unlikely that England will even contemplate going back to Rashid, far too much of a luxury item, until next winter, when the team play Tests in Bangladesh and India.
For South Africa it will be a reversion to the formula that was successful last summer, and in all probability for the first Test, the same balance that played at the height of the Ashes series, with the exception of a new opener in place of Adam Lyth (Moeen can expect to return to his position at No8 where his contribution last summer was a crucial one), James Taylor in place of Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow being given a run with the gloves.
It would be astounding if the opener was not Alex Hales who has been on this trip throughout and if it may be seen as a baptism of fire against one of the best pace attacks in the business, then any idea that he should have been blooded, as it were, in UAE, is both fallacious and slightly insulting to Pakistan, who are certainly not England’s warm-up act, and are now the No2 ranked side in the world.
There are no sinecures in Test cricket: Hales, or for that matter any newcomer, is either good enough to play against any opposition, in any circumstance, or he is not.
A key to this, though, will be the fitness of Ben Stokes to bowl. That he was able to bat with some gusto at the end was encouraging, even if the tale of him putting two fingers up to medical opinion and storming out to bat has an element of endearing hyperbole: had he been a real risk, they would not have let him through the door.
The ability of Stokes to bowl is an important one for the balance of the side. His bowling has improved significantly now he has learned to hit the deck a little harder rather than float the ball down, and he represents a big part of the attack.
Without his bowling, England would face the conundrums of whether he should play just as a batsman, having scored two Test hundreds, and if so, who drops out. And if he doesn’t play, how does the balance then pan out?
England could only compensate then by playing four seamers, with two of Mark Wood (if fit), Steven Finn (if fit), and Liam Plunkett joining Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad, and Moeen batting at No6 or No7.
The dearth of England international-class spin is not new, camouflaged by the presence of Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar. The ECB spends a lot of time and effort in trying to identify young talent and giving it opportunity to develop with time spent on the subcontinent – and, soon, in Dubai – and placements abroad.
But the domestic structure lets them down. It cannot be expected that spinners will play a real part in County Championship cricket when around half of the competition is completed by the end of May and a quarter before the end of April: in his entire career, this correspondent played only five championship matches that began in April, none earlier than 28 April.
There is the quart into a pint pot argument here. So in the future, it may be that the domestic structure consists of championship from May to September, with a county T20 competition run on Friday throughout and a three week city-based T20 competition in midsummer, during which there is no international cricket. Fifty-overs international cricket is a top game and will still survive on this.
One further thing: Panesar is making real progress in rediscovering himself. He could still be a world-class bowler but would need the chance. Currently he does not have a county but might it not be in the interest of England for the ECB to employ him, as a freelance say, and lease him out during the season. Who would not benefit from that?
