England clutch into lead as wickets fall over

England 104 for 6 (Strauss 41*, Rehman 3-23) lead Pakistan 99 (Shafiq 45, Broad 4-36) by 5 runs

PCB Chairman Zaka Ashraf has assured that temporary coach Mohsin Khan will not be left "jobless" even if the board decides to replace him.

"We are thankful for his giving and we always praise his good work. Even if we make a decision to replace him as coach he will not be left jobless, as we will utilize his expertise in other assignments," Ashraf told the 'Express' from Dubai.

Mohsin apparently avoided meeting Ashraf in Dubai, as he was unhappy with reports about the board wanting to put back him with Australian Dav Whatmore after the current series against England.

The newspaper reported that Mohsin it appears that was upset with the board for the way it was treating him and had avoided meeting the chairman while he had a communication with the players in the stadium.

Mohsin also didn't be present at the official dinner hosted by the PCB chief for the national team, the report said.

Ashraf, however, deprived of Mohsin had any grievances with the board over the coaching issue.

"I don't think he is distress with us. He didn't come to the dinner because he was not feeling well and had informed us about this. As it is, any decision about who should be the coach is completely up to the board chairman," he said.

The former Test opener has guided Pakistan to series win over Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and England in the last four months and is upset that in spite of his results the governing body has been negotiating with what more, who is scheduled to reach Lahore later this month to apparently sign an agreement with the PCB.

The chairman, meanwhile, established that he had a one-to-one meeting with captain, Misbah-ul-Haq, in Dubai in which the senior player informed him about the problems faced by the players and also request him to increase salaries of players in the new central contracts.

"Misbah convey some issues to me which I have certain will be looked into when I get back to Pakistan. He also request that the board should give increments to the players which we will look into before presentation the central contracts," Ashraf added.

The PCB, due to its financial condition, has not given any increments to players for the last few years and Ashraf said any decision on giving cash bonuses to the team for winning the Test series against England would also be taken after the series.

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Alastair Cook: History is on England's side

Alastair Cook knows history, of their own making, is on England's side as they bid to bounce back against Pakistan in the second Test, starting Wednesday.

England's batsmen did themselves no justice in Dubai last week, where consecutive collapses to under 200 to the bowling of Saeed Ajmal, and then Umar Gul, resulted in a 10-wicket defeat inside three days.

The opener concedes that shock setback has inevitably eroded a little of the confidence that comes with being the International Cricket Council's world number-one team.

But he points out too that the method of England's ascent to the top - more than once they had to battle back from jolting defeat to win series - is a reassuring factor.

"When you lose, and so heavily, naturally it does dent confidence," he said.
"But if you look at history, when we have produced a poor performance, we've managed to bounce back well.

"We hope we can this time too," he added.

Twice against Australia, heavy defeats - at Headingley in 2009 and then Perth in 2011 - proved no barrier to famous series victories.

England squared it with themselves too last summer, even amid the adulation of Edgbaston and The Oval, that some successes would still be harder-earned than others.

"We said when we turned number one and everyone said what a good team we are, there's going to be some rocky roads ahead at times," he added.

"No matter how good a side you are, you will always lose some games of cricket against the very good sides we're playing.

"This is a real test of our character. We've shown it in the past and hope we can show it again.

"You don't become bad players or a bad team overnight. Whatever you read, or people say about you, we know we've got some seriously world-class players in our team," he added.

England's bowlers demonstrated that last week, but their batsmen unquestionably did not - and therefore must do so at the Sheikh Zyed Stadium if Andrew Strauss' tourists are to stay in this three-Test series.

"It's about delivering over the next five days," said Cook.

"The bowlers hit their straps (in Dubai), and now it's up to the batters to back them up," he went on to add.

One of the first challenges will fall to Cook and Strauss, set to open the batting together for the 100th time in Tests but unaccustomed nonetheless to facing spin within the first five overs - as they had to in Dubai.

"It's not what we're used to in English conditions, with the swing and seam," said Cook.

"But we had talked about it, that we knew they would turn to spin early - they've certainly got the bowlers to do that.

"We knew that would happen, but we just didn't cope with it very well," Cook concluded.

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