England needs a quick solution to its frailties against off-spinner Saeed Ajmal when it faces Pakistan in the second Test at the Abu Dhabi Stadium starting on Wednesday.
Andrew Strauss's men, who are in danger of losing their first Test series after being unbeaten in the last nine, were mauled by the 34-year-old spinner in the first match in Dubai, where they lost by 10 wickets inside three days.
Ajmal took a career-best seven for 55 to demolish England for 192 in the first innings, before half-centuries from Mohammad Hafeez, Taufiq Umar, Adnan Akmal and Misbah-ul Haq gave Pakistan a lead of 146.
Paceman Umar Gul, who took four early wickets, then combined with Ajmal and left-arm spinner Abdul Rehman to wreck England a second time for 160 before the openers knocked off the 15 runs needed to go one-up in the three-Test series.
England can take solace from the fact that Abu Dhabi's pitch offers very slow turn and both the Tests played here ended in draws, the latest in October last year when Pakistan let off Sri Lanka by dropping seven second innings catches.
Despite the slowness of the pitch, Ajmal will again be a big threat but the England skipper was confident his players could stage a fightback.
“I don't think it is a huge challenge, there will be a huge feeling that we haven't given a good account of ourselves and that will be a good motivation for us to come back stronger,” said Strauss, whose England side last lost a Test series in 2009, in the West Indies.
England, currently the number one ranked side in the world, has not lost two Tests in a row since 2008 and Strauss said the team was determined to bounce back in Abu Dhabi.
Left-arm spinner Monty Panesar missed out in Dubai, and England look likely to go with the same combination in Abu Dhabi of three pacemen and lone spinner Swann. The teams: Pakistan (from): Misbah-ul Haq (capt.), Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Farhat, Taufiq Umar, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal, Adnan Akmal, Umar Gul, Junaid Khan, Aizaz Cheema, Wahab Riaz, Saeed Ajmal and Abdul Rehman.
England (from): Andrew Strauss (capt.), Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Eoin Morgan, Matt Prior, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, Graham Onions, Chris Tremlett, James Anderson, Steven Finn, Steve Davies, Monty Panesar and Ravi Bopara.
