Selectors must have the bottle to play two slow men

Bowling in tandem allows you to feed off each other's pressure. We try to suffocate batters and force them into making the mistakes which result in us taking wickets.

This is what Pakistan will do, I assure you. So, unless England have a cunning plan, which no one knows about, then my message to the selectors is: Play the boys you picked to do the job. Otherwise, you'll never play two spinners until it's too late and the psychological edge will be lost. Start confident, and if things then don't go to plan then make adjustments, not the other way around.

Aside from the spinning issue, after our very comfortable victory against the Governor's XI, the First Test looks nicely poised. Marcus Trescothick and, more importantly after recent happenings, Alec Stewart were in the runs and Darren Gough and Andy Caddick seemed to be bowling well and getting among the batsmen.

Obviously, a pleasant friendly match (did someone forget to tell Caddie that!), with cucumber sandwiches and cream cakes for tea, is a far cry from the Test arena. Nonetheless, as I have always said, winning (like losing) is a habit so let's hope that this present trend continues.

So come on lads, with only three Tests in the series, it is vital to get off to a bright, confident start. I know Nasser will be building all his players up for this, which should help them focus from the very first ball. So whether we are bowling or batting, let's use the confidence that was gained from last summer's fantastic series victory and add to that winning habit. Good luck lads.