England are no world-beaters, say must-win Pakistan

Pakistan go into the "must-win" second and final test on Thursday talking themselves up while dismissing England's pretensions to be world-beaters.

The tourists, despite being routed by an innings at Lord's, remain convinced that they are the more talented side, even with England on the brink of a fifth consecutive series success.

Richard Pybus, however, acknowledges at the same time that he and his players have much to learn from their opponents as they prepare for Old Trafford.

"England are not a side of world-beaters but the whole is more than the sum of the parts," Pybus said.

"Their best bat is Graham Thorpe, otherwise they have quite a few guys who average high thirties, which means good test batsmen, not great ones.

"But at Lord's everybody in their line-up did their job... the key was their discipline.

"We played incredibly poorly and did not do what we had planned."

England, who have beaten Zimbabwe, West Indies, Pakistan and Sri Lanka since last year, have not won five series in a row since 1969-71 under Ray Illingworth.

Pybus, who has described his charges as "arguably the most talented side in the world", acknowledged the host team had made huge bounds since establishing a squad with central contracts and introducing state-of-the-art medical and training back-up.

SUPERBLY PREPARED

"We have to get up to date," he said. "I've known (England coach) Duncan Fletcher for some time and his sides are always superbly prepared. He leaves nothing to chance."

Pakistan looked anything but prepared at Lord's.

One batsman after another was induced to nibble at away-swinging deliveries -- 15 of their wickets were caught by wicketkeeper or in the slips -- following a strangely unimpressive bowling display.

Their only 'success' came when Shoaib Akhtar broke England captain Nasser Hussain's thumb, putting him out of the rest of the series.

Pakistan, according to their coach, "only know one way to play and that's aggressively. But sometimes you have to temper that with patience and discipline.

"You are not going to thrash every ball to all parts when there's quite a lot of lateral movement."

Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, the cornerstone of Pakistan's series wins in England in 1992 and 1996, rediscovered some form in the final warm-up match against Leicestershire, swinging the ball appreciably as they shared nine wickets in the first innings.

"I know Waqar and Wasim were very disappointed with the way they bowled (at Lord's)," added Pybus. "They're both very proud men. There'll be a big improvement for Old Trafford.

"Is it a must-win game? Pretty much. If our big guns make contributions, we will genuinely be in the ball game.

"Waqar and Wasim didn't contribute with the ball, Salim Elahi, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Yousuf Youhana didn't make runs -- if your top-five players don't make contributions, you are not going to feature."

Pakistan look certain to include off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq this time after opting for an all-seam attack at Lord's.

LOOMING AXE

With all-rounders Abdur Razzaq, who made a half-century at Lord's, and Azhar Mahmood, who took four wickets, both demanding inclusion, the tourists seem set to drop Shoaib for Saqlain despite the pace bowler's gradual return to form.

Elahi is another man under pressure after his pair in the first game.

England, meanwhile, still deprived of key all-rounder Craig White and injured left-arm spinner Ashley Giles, are expected to play seven specialist batsmen again, replacing Hussain with the in-form Nick Knight.

Five of those batsmen -- Michael Atherton, Marcus Trescothick, Michael Vaughan, Ian Ward and Knight -- are regular openers, while stand-in captain Alec Stewart has also spent much of his career at the top of the order.

The only other England decision will be whether to replace left-arm seamer Ryan Sidebottom, ineffectual at Lord's, with Matthew Hoggard's pace or the off-spin of Robert Croft.

Much will depend on the Old Trafford surface.

The ground, the venue of three draws in the teams' previous meetings, has spent much of the start of the season under water, with only one day's play possible to date.

Even at Lord's, England needed three.

Mail Cricket Editor