England coach Andy Flower wants the team to pick up its intensity after losing the first Test against Pakistan by 10 wickets.
It was England's first defeat in 13 months, although it had not played a Test since beating India at The Oval in August.
England has been unbeaten in its last nine test series, but more
importantly, in the subcontinent or Middle East it has beaten only
Bangladesh over the last 10 years.
"This team has done great things in the recent past, but you have to
move on from the past and live in the present," Flower said on Friday, a
day after the crushing loss.
England got good preparation for the series against Pakistan with two
three-day warm up matches in which it defeated an ICC Combined XI and
Pakistan Cricket Board XI.
But England was then blown out for 192 and 160 and Pakistan won the
first of three Tests with two days to spare. Pakistan tallied 338 then
15 without loss under fading light on Thursday.
England failed to negotiate the spin of Saeed Ajmal, who took his
career's second 10-wicket haul that included 7-55 in the first innings.
"Even though this wasn't a huge turning pitch, it had certain qualities
that were different to what we come across in England," Flower said.
"All our players relish the challenge of being able to adapt to
different conditions and bowlers. That's what makes it exciting."
England might have to rethink its starting lineup for the second test at
Abu Dhabi next week after it left out left-arm spinner Monty Panesar
and went in with three seamers. But Flower was not ready to accept that
England missed Panesar.
"We all know that it was the batting that let us down in this test," he
said. "Our bowlers did a superb job to bring us back into the game, and
if we'd batted better in the second innings, we might have been able to
put them under some pressure."
England batsmen, especially in the second innings, fell to some shocking
shot selection with Kevin Pietersen needlessly pulling and both
openers, captain Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook, conceding edges down
the legside.
"If you make poor decisions in Test cricket, you get severely punished for it," Flower said.
"Our batsmen have a record of making a lot of very good decisions, and
that's part of the reason why we've done so well recently.
"We've made some incredible first innings scores ... to put the
opposition under pressure. On this occasion we weren't good enough to do
that."
For Flower, all is not lost.
"One of the exciting things is that there are two tests left so we can still win the series," he said.
"I'd much rather be 1-0 up standing here ... it's going to take a lot of
great cricket to ensure firstly that we get up level with them, and
then see if we can win."
