Darren Gough: reverse-swing will be crucial Photo © Paul McGregor

England know they will have to beat the Pakistan team at their own game if they are to be successful this winter. As the England team inspected the pitch at the National Stadium in Karachi today, Darren Gough confirmed that the use of reverse-swing and spin would be crucial.

"If it starts reversing out here it's going to help the bowlers and if it doesn't then it's going to be a long winter on pitches like the one we saw today," Gough remarked.

Gough and White will be expected to carry the burden of 'reversing' the ball, a skill they admit to having picked-up from the Pakistan new ball pair, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis. With little help expected from the pitch, and the shine on the new ball expected to last only an hour, it will be crucial for England's wicket taking capabilities that the Yorkshire pair are able to harness the reversing skill.

"I've picked it up from watching Wasim and Waqar," admitted Gough. "I'm very similar to Waqar in the way I bowl and if I know it's reversing then I change my action slightly and do things differently with my feet to get a bigger angle on the reverse."

"Whenever you have got a new ball in your hand you have a chance of getting a wicket, but it's not like England where you can bowl within yourself and get a nick to one of the four slips."

Although Gough has played in Pakistan before, notably at the 1996 World Cup, he has never bowled with a red ball in the country, and he is unsure as to how the ball will react.

"I've been out here three times now," revealed Gough, "and every time we've used white balls. It's alien to almost all of us because we don't know what the pitches are going to do."

"There will be the odd time hopefully, when we get an early wicket and get them four or five down and put the pressure on. What we have to learn to do as a group is learn to sit in like other teams do. If we can use our spin and other weapons then that is what makes a good team."

Gough did suggest that this tour will be a learning experience, though, and that rather than expecting immediate success, people should try and see the longer-term picture.

"We have to learn to bowl on pitches like this. This is what the tour is all about. We might not be successful this time but if we come across these conditions again next winter in India we'll know what to expect."

Meanwhile fellow Yorkshireman Matthew Hoggard has become the first player to go down with stomach trouble. Gough explained: "You're going to pick up a bug at some stage, and it's just a matter of controlling it by drinking plenty of bottled water and not eating anything dodgy, unlike one of us who learnt that barbecued chicken pizza was not a good idea in Karachi!"

© CricInfo Ltd.