By Luke Gardener — February 7, 2012 | ONLINE ONLY

The recent three match series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates was the first that England had played since becoming the number one Test side in the world. Pundits and fans were positive, and most believed that England would prove they deserved their number one ranking by triumphing over the subcontinent team.

However, things did not go to plan, England succumbed to a 3-0 whitewash and looked like a shadow of the team who broke all sorts of records in 2011. Pitches which were flat in the first days of each test match bamboozled the England batsmen, and at times they looked amateurish with poor shot selection and non-existent footwork. England must learn the lessons from this series, and fast, as they face Sri Lanka in similar conditions in March and April.

The whitewash defeat means that if South Africa beat New Zealand 3-0 in the upcoming Test series then England will lose their number one ranking. The series defeat was so shocking because experts were predicting that it would be the bowlers who would struggle on flat, docile pitches. The direct opposite occurred. Not one English batsman managed to score a century, with Alastair Cook the only man getting anywhere near, scoring 94 in the first innings in the second Test match in Abu Dhabi. The persistent problem England faced was that of spin bowling with Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman and Mohammad Hafeez taking 48 wickets between them. Ajmal was the most impressive and he single-handedly wreaked havoc with figures of 7-55 in the first innings of the first Test match.

Andy Flower and Andrew Strauss must now react to the consistent failures of batsmen throughout the series with Eoin Morgan and Ian Bell’s places looking particularly vulnerable in the team. Bell scored 51 runs in six innings and was dismissed on four occasions by Saeed Ajmal, suggesting that the Warwickshire man who has been in such fine form needs to adopt a new approach in the subcontinent against spin. Similarly, Morgan only scored 82 runs at an average of 13.66 and was out to spin five times. The Irishman looked inexperienced and unsure of the best approach to take and this was reflected in his low scores.

Another man who has to be under pressure is Kevin Pietersen. KP, who is generally regarded as the best natural talent England have at their disposal, has consistently been troubled by left-arm spinners and this problem resurfaced in the UAE. Abdur Rehman continually troubled the charismatic Pietersen and, as Nasser Hussain has stated, “he has to face up to the fact that he has a problem against left-arm spin; the sooner he does that, the sooner he can start solving the problem.”

So who should England turn to if they are to make changes to the batting line up in their Test side?

The obvious choice would be Ravi Bopara – he has been in and around the side for the past year or two and when selected as had reasonable success. He has good footwork against spin and has played in the IPL against elite spinners. Bopara has to be selected if you are looking to combat the effectiveness of spin. Ian Bell would be the likely man to miss out. Another player who has been talked about is the young Leicestershire star, James Taylor. He averages nearly 50 in the County Championship and has experienced conditions in Sri Lanka on the recent tour with the England Lions.

England coach Andy Flower no doubt remains cautious about making such radical changes and is convinced that the players selected for this tour are the best England has to offer. However, being bowled out for under 200 on four separate occasions, and an appalling 72 in the second innings of the second test chasing just 145 to win proves that there is a significant problem. Former England captain Michael Vaughan suggests that the “same players should be selected for the Sri Lanka series”, but many other critics are calling for a rethink. For too long, Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott have been relied on to score massive runs, taking the pressure off of the middle and lower order batsmen and this series has awoken many English fans to the problems that the players have in adapting to subcontinent conditions.

One positive for England was the exceptional bowling performances and the re-emergence of Monty Panesar, who took 14 wickets in the two matches he played. He was supported superbly by Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann and James Anderson who all had success with the ball. If the batsman had done their jobs it would be quite conceivable that we would be talking of an English whitewash and the Test side would now be firmly established as the best in the world.

England will hope this is a minor diversion on their quest for world domination and this series has proven to be a major wake up call for any England players who had become complacent.