Cricket: This will be toughest test the boys have faced so far

ENGLAND have not lost a Test series in two years - and they have to believe they can extend that sequence when the final Test against Pakistan begins in Lahore on Tuesday.

This team have come up against some tough challenges over the last two years, which the boys have always risen to. But this is the biggest so far.

The game plan doesn't change but it now comes down to one game and we have to win it. We are capable of doing it and we just have to make sure we play good cricket for the entire game.

We have to go about everything positively with controlled aggression to give ourselves a chance. So far we haven't put Pakistan under pressure for long enough periods and now it's a do- or-die situation.

First up, it would help if Michael Vaughan wins the toss and then England can bat first with a very controlled, positive attitude and post a big first-innings total.

England will need to take the attacking options - which they generally do - and keep Pakistan on the back foot as they seek to take the 20 wicket required to win the game.

We've been in this position before, one down going into the last Test. I remember we needed to win my last match at The Oval against South Africa to square the series - and we did.

It is hard to win in Pakistan on their wickets. But England have to believe they can win it.

England will be disappointed that, following the draw in Faisalabad, they can't win the series. But the challenge for the team is there to draw it.

It still goes back to that first Test, when without doubt they should have won. But whereas the boys will have left Multan down in the dumps having thrown away a great chance to go one up, they will have come out of this one knowing they weren't ever really in a winning position but hung on well to get the draw.

They'll have gained some positive thoughts because of the way they dug in during the last three hours of the game.

One man who won't be playing in Lahore is the banned Shahid Afridi. There are certain things you can do in cricket, and in sport, that you can get away with if you're subtle about it but that was sheer stupidity.

Having said that, I thought to ban him from a Test and two one- day games was a very harsh penalty. He certainly breached the rules but he could have just been done for one Test.

Things like that have always gone on if the wicket's a bit flat and you want to get it to turn a bit.

The throws that come in to the wicketkeeper, instead of being over the top of the stumps, may just come in across the wicket on a good length so that the only way the keeper can catch the ball on the full is to tread on the wicket. And if he just happens to leave his spikes in the pitch a bit longer, so be it.

I'd like to make it clear that I used to keep wicket in flats or half-and-halfs, I never wore full spikes! It was good to see Ian Bell bat for six-and-a-half hours and show how to build a Test innings in that part of the world.

People said he struggled against Australia but he got two fifties and he came out of that series a far better, more mature, experienced Test cricketer.

Geraint Jones also had a very good series both with the gloves and the bat. He's had his critics and what is pleasing is that I'm not reading anything in the papers about him as a keeper, which means he must be doing the job.

I'D like to send my personal congratulations to the batting genius Brian Lara for becoming the highest Test run scorer of all time. He is the best, most naturally gifted batsman I've ever played with or against and his position at the top of the list is a deserved one.

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