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Andrew Strauss has warned that England must learn the lessons of their 3-0 series whitewash at the hands of Pakistan or face more misery in Asian conditions.
England's 71-run loss in the third Test in Dubai condemned them to a 3-0 defeat in their first series since officially becoming ranked the No. 1 Test team. It was also the first series whitewash England had suffered since the 5-0 Ashes loss of 2006-07 and only the seventh in their history. With a two-Test tour to Sri Lanka coming up next month and a tour of India before Christmas, Strauss knows England have to improve in these conditions if they are to retain any hope of remaining the top-ranked side.
Strauss, England's Test captain, admitted that his team would do some "soul searching" over the coming days but insisted they would conduct a full debrief before making any decisions over the future of certain players. The positions of Ian Bell (who averaged 8.5 in the series), Kevin Pietersen (11.16) and Eoin Morgan (13.66) are all likely to come under scrutiny after England succumbed to their first series defeat since they lost to the West Indies in early 2009 and the first since Andy Flower was appointed to the position of permanent coach.
"We can't ignore this result and just say it's an aberration," Strauss said. "That would not help us. This was an eye-opener and a wake-up call and with two more tours on the subcontinent coming up, things won't get easier. We have to be up for this challenge.
"We have to look at the reasons we lost. We have to look at our preparation, our training, our techniques and our temperament. It would be wrong for us to ignore these things, but we also need to remain true to what has worked well in the past.
"No-one has a right to play for England forever. It would be patently wrong for us to think like that. But we also need to take time to let the dust settle. We need to look at what went wrong individually. Hopefully over the next week or two, things will become clearer.
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