DUBAI, Feb 6, (AFP): Pakistan’s bowlers sealed an emphatic 71-run win in the third and final Test against England here on Monday, wrapping up a humiliating 3-0 series whitewash in the process.
Set a daunting 324-run target, England were bowled out for 252 with paceman Umar Gul taking 4-61 and off-spinner Saeed Ajmal 4-67 to help Pakistan achieve a first-ever Test cleansweep against their opponents.
With the ball turning again it was always going to be a difficult task for England’s batsmen, who have struggled to play the Pakistani spinners throughout the series, on a weary fourth day pitch at Dubai Stadium.
Pakistan won the first Test here by ten wickets and the second by 72 runs in Abu Dhabi.
Pakistan have also become the first team to win a Test after being bowled out for under 100 since 1907 when England, shot out for 76, beat South Africa at Leeds.
It was England’s seventh series whitewash, their first at the hands of Pakistan. Pakistan have now recorded five series whitewashes, their last coming in a 3-0 win over Bangladesh in 2003. England’s last series whitewash came in 2007 when they were routed by Australia 5-0.
So dominating have been Pakistanis spinners that Ajmal finished the series with 24 and Rehman with 19.
An elated Pakistan captain Misbah-ul Haq praised his team.
“It’s a wonderful team effort,” said Misbah, who now has won nine of the 15 Tests as captain, with one loss and five draws. “It’s a big win against a big team, achieved through hard work.”
England captain Andrew Strauss said the lack of run-making had left him disappointed.
“It’s a bit of surprise as well as disappointment because we did not put scores on the board, and we must give credit to Pakistan,” said Strauss who has lost his first series since losing to the West Indies in 2009.
“We have important lessons to learn from this defeat.”
England, 89-2 at lunch, were still in with a chance with Alastair Cook (49) and Kevin Pietersen (18) batting well but they lost four wickets in the space of 84 runs. They went to tea at 173-6.
Pietersen, who struggled for runs in the series, hit Abdul Rehman for a boundary and then hoisted him for a six to post England’s 100. But Ajmal struck from the other end.
The off-spinner produced a beautiful delivery to bowl Pietersen through the gate for 18. He had a mere 67 runs for the series during which he was out to spinners on five occasions.
In his next over, Ajmal produced another sharp turning delivery which caught the edge of Cook’s bat and was smartly held by a diving Younis Khan in the lone slip.
Ian Bell (10) and Eoin Morgan (31) added 37 for the fifth wicket but again failed to produce a big score in the series as Gul dismissed them in the space of just three runs.
Pakistan took the second new ball at 196-6 and the first ball saw Gul dismissing Stuart Broad (18) and then Graeme Swann on one.
Matt Prior remained not out at 49 when Monty Panesar was dismissed by Rehman for nine.
England had looked for big partnerships after resuming at 36-0 but that never transpired.
Pakistan could have wrapped the match earlier had they not dropped two crucial catches, the first off Strauss on 26 when wicket-keeper Adnan Akmal grassed a simple chance off Gul.
But that didn’t hurt Pakistan as Rehman trapped the England captain in the very next over. Strauss challenged the decision by Australian umpire Steve Davis but his review failed.
Gul then let off Cook at 24 when he failed to hold a top-edge sweep off Rehman.
Cook had also benefited from a dropped catch on Saturday when Taufiq Umar let him off in the third slip off a miscued drive off Gul when he was four.
Ajmal then broke a dangerous looking 37-run stand between Cook and Jonathan Trott (18) by forcing a top-edge sweep which was smartly snapped up by Rehman at square-leg.
The teams will now play four one-day and three Twenty20 internationals.
Meanwhile, England captain Andrew Strauss has called on his underperforming batsmen to learn from its struggles on the spin-friendly pitches in the humiliating series loss to Pakistan with test tours to Sri Lanka and India looming. Pakistan clinched its first whitewash against England with a clinical 71-run win in the third and final test on Monday, having won the first match by 10 wickets and the second by 72 runs in a series in which a fifth day’s play was never required.
“We are disappointed that we have not coped better to the challenges that came our way,” Strauss said. “This is a good eye-opener for us and good wake-up call that things are not easy in this part of the world.”
The subcontinental-like pitches in the United Arab Emirates took spin from the first day, and England will need to improve before its trip to Sri Lanka next month and its tour of India later this year.
England hasn’t won for a decade in India, Pakistan or Sri Lanka, mainly because of its batsmen’s inability to conquer slow, turning tracks on which the ball doesn’t come on to the bat.
“English sides generally have not played well in these sort of conditions in the past,” Strauss said. “We need to break that tradition and we are not going to do that by doing the same things.”
Strauss hit 150 runs in six innings, featuring in one of only three half-centuries scored by England’s top six batsmen in the series.
England’s batsmen had no answer to the brilliance of offspinner Saeed Ajmal and left-arm tweaker Abdur Rehman, who combined for 43 wickets in the series.
“I haven’t been involved in any series where so many of our batsmen have had a hard time as much as this one,” Strauss said. “We have all got some questions to answer individually, some soul searching and thoughts to put into how we can do things better.
“Pakistan bowlers are quite unique,” he added. “They are different type of spinners. They made life difficult for us and when we did get in front of them in the tests, they were able to wrest the initiative back in their favor.”

Scoreboard

PScoreboard after the third and final Test between Pakistan and England at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Monday.
PAKISTAN first innings: 99
ENGLAND first innings: 141
PAKISTAN second innings: 365
ENGLAND second innings: (overnight 36-0)
A. Strauss lbw b Abdur Rehman 26
A. Cook c Younis Khan b Saeed Ajmal 49
J. Trott c Abdur Rehman b Saeed Ajmal 18
K. Pietersen b Saeed Ajmal 18
I. Bell c Asad Shafiq b Umar Gul 10
E. Morgan c Adnan Akmal
b Umar Gul 31
M. Prior not out 49
S. Broad c Taufeeq Umar
b Umar Gul 18
G. Swann c Asad Shafiq
b Umar Gul 1
J. Anderson c Younis Khan
b Saeed Ajmal 9
M. Panesar lbw b Abdur Rehman 8
Extras (b 4, lb 8, nb 3) 15
Total (all out; 97.3 overs) 252
Fall of wickets: 1-48 2-85 3-116 4-119 5-156 6-159 7-196 8-203 9-237
Bowling: Umar Gul 20-5-61-4 (2nb), Aizaz Cheema 4-0-9-0, Mohammad Hafeez 5-2-6-0, Abdur Rehman 41.3-10-97-2, Saeed Ajmal 27-9-67-4.
Result: Pakistan won by 71 runs
Pakistan won the three-match series 3-0. (RTRS)