England v Pakistan in the Gulf, 2015

What a shocking day for England, summed up towards the end when Misbah nicked Stokes between keeper and first slip – Buttler would have needed to dive to take it one-handed but it was relatively routine at this level. Yet he didn’t even move as it flashed past for four (just as his feet didn't move when he batted). The poor chap is shot to bits and needs to be withdrawn from the firing line for his own good as well as the good of the team.

Give Bairstow the gloves and bring in Taylor, who knows how to bat all day and can offer some ballast to a middle order that is otherwise dominated by one-day sloggers.

As for the bowling,  two specialist spinners getting  milked, so Cook throws the ball to Root , who bowls three overs for 26. And although I'm quite a fan of the role of sledging in the game, watching  'Angry Man' Stokes swear at Misbah every single ball was pathetic.

And to think when the radio woke me at 6.45 this morning, I heard Vaughan and Swann suggesting England were on target for a first innings lead of  100!

Flintoff reckons this is the best England team ever. Mind you, he says he wouldn't swap any of them for that 2005 side so I'm not sure what logic he's using. Maybe the logic of a half-wit.

There's too many problem areas for this side to be considered even pretty good, let alone the best. I'm a big fan of Buttler but he's been poor for too long. Taylor in for him would be my only change for now I think. Taylor's a must really. I think Rashid and Ali are about right for now but by the time the SA tour starts it's clearly one or the other, with Hales opening. I think we should persevere with Rashid but a good old fashioned bowl-off over the next few games should sort that out.

I'm gonna put my life savings on a Pakistan win later, but what to do with my £75 winnings? Some flashy new pants maybe.

Time for Hales, Patel and Taylor for Rashid (drop Ali to number 8), Bell and Buttler (give Bairstow the gloves)!

Bell tolls for Bell
8
No. of times Bell has made a duck or 1 in 19 inns since his last Test hundred. He had made 338 at 19.88 before this inns.

Stokes playing down every imaginable line but the right one against Yasir, seeming unable to comprehend not just the turn of the ball but the pitch of it. I have no problem with his being a dasher when on the attack, and failing sometimes because of that, but to have no defence at all is....indefensible.

Pakistan deserved to win. Not sure where England go from here but good
to see Rashid gain his maiden 50. The so-called 'New England' batters like
Stokes seem lost playing Test cricket - especially against quality spin -
as hhs points out.

Not all Test cricket, but they desperately need to play against a wider range of bowling on pitches that don't just conform to the "Bit of juice for the seamers on the first morning then slower and lower till the last day when they dust off the spinner" variety. Stokes is a good attacking bat who will make many runs, but it could take him years to work out how to change his game if all he plays on are English Test match wickets and a few county pitches that ape the same behaviour.

The good techniques in this team belong to Cook, Root, Bell (with massive qualifications because he knows how to do it but seems to forget himself too often) and  Rashid, his first innings slog being for now forgotten. It is possible that Moeen Ali would have played the spinners well if he had gone in at 6 or below, remembering how he played against Herath at Headingley last year. Nothing that I've seen of Hales, who doesn't usually open for Notts in Championship games, suggests that he would be any better.

I would hesitate to suggest Taylor against the Australian attack on bouncy wickets, and perhaps also South Africa, but he really should come in for the next Test so that we can see how he has developed since his short-lived run in 2012.  A middle order of Bell, Taylor, Root, Mooen Ali and Rashid - regardless of the sacrificial lamb to open with Cook - followed by Bairstow and the bowlers might be a more solid option for now. It won't do for South Africa, and the spin bowling clearly is not of sufficient class to attack and maintain control in the way that Pakistan have done but the faster bowlers have regularly made inroads in these games and if they have a decent score to bowl to then there is certainly enough fighting spirit in the side for them to create a different kind of pressure.

Longer term some things must change if we are going to continue to play Test cricket. Our county competitions don't offer variety in the pitches or the type of bowling, and the players carry a weight of expectation that they are unlikely to fulfil. A sensible solution has to be found to accommodate the dynamic T20 competition that will bring in fresh hearts and fresh wallets into the game, and to revitalise the moribund championship and start to produce rounded cricketers, not afraid to attack but who have sound techniques to build from. Is it surprising that the runaway winners should be a team with excellent seam bowling, a little short of the highest pace, a classic 4th day spinner, and a batting line up that seems impregnable until, one by one, their lack of technique is found out by true international bowlers? It is not a model for a winning Test side, any more than the messy fixture list is a model for attracting new interest to this lovely, ailing game.