Hard for England to beat Pakistan: Allan Lamb

Fomer England batsman thinks England team is still 'growing' and will need 'four years' for a strong build up

Sports Desk September 19, 2015

One of the problems for England right now is the choice of the opening partner for captain Alastair Cook. PHOTO: AFP

Former England batsman Allan Lamb believes it would not be easy for England to beat Pakistan in the UAE and later South Africa will also pose a big threat for them as well.

“It will be hard for us to beat Pakistan,” said Lamb, as quoted by Sports360.

“We are still growing and we may have jumped the hurdles too quickly, beating Australia which no one thought we would do.

“We’ve been pegged back in the ODIs but if we’d won that it would have made a big difference – people would be on too much of a high.

Read: Pakistan can emulate Aus-NZ like success against England: Waqar Younis

“So Pakistan will be difficult and then we have South Africa – it’s going to be tough. These can be very tough tours. I’m sure (director of cricket) Andrew Strauss is looking over a four-year period to build this team up. So I think don’t expect too much. We have some young players coming through, let’s see how they go.”

One of the problems for England right now is the choice of the opening partner for captain Alastair Cook and unlike the popular narrative, Lamb thinks moving Moeen Ali up the order will be a wrong call and Alex Hales is not experienced enough to take the job.

“Unfortunately, Lyth has been dropped due to his failures but he’s a good player and I’m sure he’ll come back,” added Lamb.

“They’ve got to work out who’s going to open, that’s the big thing. Moeen Ali is just a bit too loose to open, and Alex Hales hasn’t really done anything to deserve a spot.

Read: Beating Pakistan in UAE is a big challenge, says Brendon McCullum

“They are talking about Moeen opening and bringing in Adil Rashid, and Rashid has to play. Spin will be the key, especially in Dubai, where the wickets are like India and Pakistan.”

Earlier, former Australian pacer Jason Gillespie and New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum said that Moeen was the perfect person to open with Cook in the UAE against a stable Pakistan side.