England Cricket / Ralph Ellis / 11 January 2012 /

Pakistan are talking a good game ahead of the first Test but England's preparation under Andy Flower is exemplary and they are capable of dealing with whatever Saeed Ajmal bowls at them, says Ralph Ellis.

There was a Monty Python sketch that had John Cleese conducting interviews for applicants who wanted to join the Secret Service. He spent most of it discussing cricketing memories before asking Eric Idle the key question: "Can you keep a secret?" Idle's response: "Yes"; Cleese: "Good, you're in then."

It looks like Pakistan's off-spinner Saeed Ajmal could be a promising applicant for MI5 too, then. Several months after telling the world that he was developing a new and devastating variation to his bowling repertoire, he's still teasing everybody with the promise it will be unveiled against England next week. It is, he's been telling reporters gathering in Dubai, the "Teesra". And the most he'll let anybody know is that it will be a back-spinning delivery.

As a bit of psychology it's brilliant, and no doubt he's hoping that Andy Flower will have put a call in to Langley House, or wherever James Bond and his cronies work from these days, to see if anybody can take a few hours off from saving the world to spy on the Pakistan nets. Listen to the promises from Ajmal and bowling coach Aaqib Javed and Andrew Strauss could be forgiven for walking out to bat waiting for the ball to explode when it hits the pitch for the first time.

There's no doubt that since the corruption scandal engulfed Pakistani cricket in the ill-fated 2010 series, the country have gone a long way to restoring their reputation. Captain Misbaah ul Haq built his reputation at the crease on being slow, thoughtful and careful, and his captaincy has been every bit as calm and measured. Since he took over, they have drawn against South Africa and in the West Indies, as well as beating New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. That's not a bad record for a side that has never been able to play a proper home game because of the political situation.

It's certainly been enough to confuse people. Betfair's market makes England the [2.26] favourites to win the three match series, yet in the Series Score market the shortest price is for a 1-1 draw.

You sense that England are less confused about it all, however. While Pakistan have been talking a good game, Flower has been getting the preparation right. That was the key to last winter's Ashes victory, when his squad arrived on Australian shores having been properly focused and trained for what was to come. There are good signs that the process has gone on this time.

Before Flower took over, England had slipped into a dangerous routine where their programme for the winter too often meant that they were virtually stepping off the plane and putting their pads on for the first Test. The coach put a stop to that nonsense in Australia last winter by insisting on a decent warm-up programme. And he's done the same this year - England will have been together in the sunshine for more than a fortnight when the first Test starts on Tuesday.

That should be enough that no stunning new delivery can scare them - however well kept the secret might be.

Five things you might not know about Saeed Ajmal

1. Born October 1977 in Faisalabad, his father encouraged his cricket career and Saeed made his debut for the regional team at the age of 18

2. It took him more than 10 years to break into the national squad - he was picked for the Asia Cup in 2008

3. His bowling action was the subject of a 2009 ICC inquiry after it had been called into question by umpires Asad Rauf and Billy Bowden during an ODI series against Australia. It was cleared, but Ajmal was fined the the Pakistani authorities for accusing Shane Watson of encouraging the umpires to lodge the complaint.

4. He declared himself 'heartbroken' after being hit for three sixes in the final over by Michael Hussey which cost Pakistan a place in the final of the 2010 World Twenty20 tournament. Until then he had been the country's star of the tournament and top wicket taker

5. He was named by corrupt agent Mazhar Majeed as being the player most impossible to be lured into malpractice because of his deeply held religious views.

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