Firstly congratulations to Pakistan, they continue to go from strength to strength, to beat the number one Test side in the world 3-0 is quite an achievement. Over the course of the series the severe stronghold Ajmal and Rehman held over our batsmen decided the outcome, they deceived England with their lengths, the mystery that Ajmal holds, and the constant unerring accuracy of the pair meant none of our top seven found any real true form.
I have looked through some posts in this thread and am still working out exactly where I stand on some of the points discussed. It's obviously an understatement to say our batsmen under-performed but are wholesale changes the answer ? I'm currently siding with no they aren't but then shouldn't there be repercussions for such an inept collective batting unit ?
I'm convinced Ian Bell is a good enough player at this level, he isn't the soft touch people once thought he was where he only flourished when the going was good. He has proved on enough occasions that he can score runs when we need him to, but I also don't think we can put this down to just one of those series. He, along with KP, has a lot of work to do on his game in the SC, but he can still be a pivotal player in the summer ahead and deserves another crack on the SC in Sri Lanka.
It's easy to suit one's own argument to say the runs he has scored in the last 12/18 months have all been against bad bowling, I don't buy that, nor do I buy the fact he cannot succeed against the best.
Eoin Morgan is going to be the man that comes under the more intense scrutiny. Bell and KP have proved they can conquer most situations at this level, Morgan has much to prove and may be the scapegoat from this series when it is indeed the more experienced that should have taken the lead.
Can we afford to set-up with the same batting line-up in SL ? Unfortunately this series, for me, has provided many more questions than answers, I just hope we have found the answers before the end of the Indian series.