Don't be put into a spin by bad umpiring

It doesn't take many bad decisions in favour of the home side for the victims to start thinking they are playing 12 or 13 men, and when those thoughts creep in, confidence quickly drains away.

Dodgy decisions don't just affect the game you are playing, they can also affect the thinking going into a match and even the way you bat in future innings.

A professional cricketer builds his technique around the laws of the game, for example, if the ball pitches outside leg stump you know you can aim a 'free' shot at it without fear of being lbw. Or can you?

Get given out a couple of times that way and you start to think: "Hold on, I better get the bat on this because if it hits me on the pads . . ." Therefore, a delivery that previously brought relatively safe and easy runs now has to be treated with care.

In the first Test of the 1987 tour I got one of the worst lbw decisions of my career when I attempted to lap a leg-spinner from Abdul Qadir that pitched outside off stump and was heading towards slip.

Abdul claimed it was his googly but he was kidding no one except the umpire, and there is simply no way you can legislate for that as a batsman.

In terms of great spinners, Abdul was right up there with Shane Warne - more variety, a fraction less control. At least England don't have to cope with anyone that outstanding this time although Saqlain Mushtaq is fast approaching that status.

I'd like to think we will play both our spinners, Ashley Giles and Ian Salisbury, in a balanced attack with Craig White batting at seven, and Darren Gough and Caddick taking the new ball.

But, again, a lack of confidence in the umpiring could well lead England to play an extra batsman at the expense of one of the slow bowlers. The thinking would be to include another specialist to compensate for one of the top-line batsmen being "on the end of a rough one" - but it would be a bad move, and I hope they don't fall into that trap.

Nasser must keep his men positive and not keep harping back to negative thoughts. What we tried to do in 1987 was clear our minds before each day's play - sometimes before each session - set new targets and ignore what had happened before.

This time England will have the comfort of a neutral umpire at one end, and none of the squad have played Tests in Pakistan so it will be easier to start with a clean sheet.

Alec Stewart is one man who can do a lot for morale. He has more experience of touring than anyone out there and with his powers of concentration he is probably best equipped of any to shut out previous events both on and off the field.

A big performance from Alec after the unfounded accusations he has had to put up with recently would lift the whole team and might just inspire England to the win they will need to draw the series 1-1.