England batters hold crisis meeting after Pak debacle

Thursday, 2 February 2012 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Dubai (ANI): England’s batsmen held a crisis meeting on Tuesday to assess what went wrong with their approach in the two lost Tests to Pakistan here, and to determine what would be the best way forward going into the third Test.

According to The Telegraph, middle-order batsman Ian Bell admitted they were “brutally honest” about their failings in the Test series against Pakistan. “The batsmen all sat down with Andy Flower and spoke together about what we have done and the mistakes we’ve made and how we want to get better,” said Bell before Tuesday’s practice session.

He added: “There had to be honesty, even if it upset someone, as there was no point saying we were great the last two years and nothing is wrong.”

Bell further said: “There are some players who are really proud, certainly over the last two years, about their performances. We don’t like playing like we have done in the last two Test matches and we are all desperate to start scoring runs in the subcontinent. If we can do that, we can start moving forward again, which is what we want to do.”

England had a similar clear-the-air meeting in Jamaica three years ago after they lost the opening Test having been bowled out for 51.

That was a team rebuilding exercise after crisis, following the sackings of both Kevin Pietersen as captain and Peter Moores as coach.

“The talks were similar to the ones in Jamaica, though not to the same extent as that,” said Bell, who has made 33 runs in his four Test innings here.

“We don’t just have meetings for the sake of it - there has to be a point in getting it all out, taking it to the nets and then in to the Test match,” said Bell.