England coach Trevor Bayliss Tuesday said his team competed against Pakistan on equal terms and need to do the same to level the series in the third and final Test in Sharjah later this week. England lost the second Test against Pakistan by 178 runs in Dubai on Monday but not before putting up a valiant fight through their tail-enders who batted all but 6.3 overs on the final day to threaten a draw.
Number seven Adil Rashid, who scored 61 for his maiden half-century, and Mark Wood (29) batted for 29.2 overs during their ninth wicket stand of 55 before Pakistan pulled up a last gasp victory for a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. The first Test ended in a draw in Abu Dhabi. Bayliss said it was disappointing to lose the match and explained why.
"I think we've competed on equal terms with them. We need to do the same and we need to make some improvements as well." England came close to victory in the first Test when, chasing 99 for victory in 19 overs, they were denied by bad light with just 25 needed in eight overs. "It's been a very even nine days of Test cricket over here (in Abu Dhabi and Dubai) and unfortunately we played very poorly on day three of this last Test," said Bayliss of England's collapse from 182-3 to 242 all out.
While Pakistani spinners Yasir Shah (eight wickets) and Zulfiqar Babar (three wickets) did well in Dubai, Bayliss thinks his spinners Rashid and Moeen Ali fell short. "We need to score some runs in that middle order and we are disappointed with our spin bowling as well. I will say they are bowling against some of the best players of spin in the world but I think it's a great learning curve.
"The two spinners we've got are learning quickly and I'm sure they'll get better," said Bayliss who hinted the inclusion of left-arm spinner Samit Patil in the final Test starting in Sharjah from Saturday. "We have been thinking about playing a third spinner in Sharjah. We'll have to wait and see the wicket. I think the strength in our bowling has been our pace bowling so we don't necessarily want to change that either."
Bayliss said batsman James Taylor's inclusion can benefit the team. "He's probably one of our better players of spin. I think he showed in the practice matches we played that he can play well over here. So to have someone like that probably somewhere in the middle order would be a benefit to the team as well," said Bayliss of Taylor whose only two Tests were in 2012.