England eager to avoid humiliation

Spin-weary England will be desperate to avoid the humiliation of a series whitewash against Pakistan in the third and final Test which starts at Dubai Stadium on Friday.Andrew Strauss’s men, pulverised by Pakistan spinners Saeed Ajmal and Abdul Rehman, are also in danger of losing their world number one spot after a dismal 10-wicket defeat in Dubai and the 72-run capitulation in Abu Dhabi.Pakistan have never inflicted a Test series whitewash on England, who topped the Test rankings in August last year with an unbeaten nine series sequence, but have seen 34 of their 40 wickets tumble on tour to Pakistan’s spinners.Off-spinner Ajmal has led the destruction with 17 scalps while left-armer Rehman has claimed 12 wickets and Mohammad Hafeez five.England need to win to guarantee their top spot on April 1 - the cut-off date for a $175,000 award to the side sitting at the top of the ICC Test championship table.England captain Andrew Strauss disagreed the lucrative Indian league was a distraction for his team. With Saturday’s auction in the Indian Premier League (IPL) looming, Strauss was asked whether that would be a distraction for his players. “I certainly hope not. I think we’ve had this circumstance before,” the England captain said.Names of several members of the current squad will appear in the auction to be held in Bangalore with James Anderson, Ian Bell, Graeme Swann, Ravi Bopara, Matt Prior and Chris Tremlett appearing favourites to be included. Meanwhile, Pakistan captain Misbah-ul Haq believes routing world number one England 3-0 will be a big achievement but stressed his team will not take that extra pressure into the third and final Test on Friday.