Andrew Strauss ready for England's journey into the unknown

Highly focussed and determined: Andrew Strauss

10 April 2012

England's inaugural and improbable tour of the United Arab Emirates begins tomorrow with a game to match.

As a curtain-raiser to the Test series against Pakistan, they will play an International Cricket Council Associate and Affiliate XI, a grandly named team of unknowns with grand points to prove.

"It's an interesting side that we're up against," said captain Andrew Strauss (below) today, as ever choosing his words carefully. "We have seen a few of their players in county cricket and they will be determined to rain on our parade.

"We always challenge the players to use every game to get to Test match intensity and we don't want to ease our way into tours. We have made that mistake in the past and hopefully we're beyond that now. It would be wrong to approach it in any other manner than this is going to be a stern test."

William Porterfield of Ireland will captain the ICC team which contains players from five countries, including three from Afghanistan.

England will be without Tim Bresnan and probably his fellow fast bowler Chris Tremlett. Bresnan has suffered swelling on his right elbow, a reaction to surgery on the joint in November, while Tremlett has an eye infection.

"In an ideal world Tim would be ready by now but you can never be 100 per cent sure with operations how recuperation will go," said Strauss. "It's shown a lot of signs of calming down and we're hopeful we'll be ready by the second game. Chris's eye is not of great concern."

The way may be open to Middlesex's Steve Finn to reclaim his Test berth after playing only once last year.

England had a strenuous practice today at the well-appointed ICC cricket academy ground. The bowlers' attempts to knock the batsmen's blocks off were blunted slightly by the slow nature of the pitches, which will be a constant feature of the next few weeks.

But there was a real intensity to the session, which was followed by nets. "The wickets look a bit slower and lower than they are back in England," said Strauss. And he added with a twinkle: "The bowlers are going to have to work hard to get their wickets but that's why they get paid the big bucks."

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Andrew Strauss ready for England's journey into the unknown

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