Dubai, Jan 31: Former England opener Mark Butcher believes the side’s batsmen underestimated their Pakistan’s spinners and this led to two consecutive Test defeats.
“I’m not sure they were quite prepared for what was to come in these conditions, or if they understood how different the game can be in places like India and Sri Lanka. And Dubai is proving to be the same,” The Mirror quoted Butcher, as saying.
“They are a very good team with some very good batsmen, but what they did last winter in Australia and each summer at home was not going to work and we can see what has happened. There is no question that this is the toughest challenge many of them will have faced and I’m not sure they saw it that way before the last two results,” he added.
Butcher admitted that the Decision Review System made it tougher for batsmen worldwide to tackle spinners.
“The DRS is changing the game for batsmen against spin. It was always hard to play spin in those conditions, but at least I never had to cope with the DRS. My generation could hang in there using the pad as well as the bat to help,” he said.
“There has to be a no-blame agenda. If your method is to sweep then you have to practise that as much as possible before the next game and use it. If you get out trying to sweep then no one should have a go at you for it. But if you try to do something you’re not used to and get out then that is where people get upset,” he added.
© ANI
