NASSER HUSSAIN: The English game must build on bravery of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum

It was amazing to witness what England achieved in Rawalpindi, and who knows what entertainment lies ahead here in Multan and Karachi?

But cricket teams must always plan for the longer term, and the English system will need to work hard to ensure that what Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum are doing can continue once they’ve gone.

The top priority for England managing director Rob Key will be the pitches back home.

English cricket chiefs must build on the success of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum 

Last summer in first-class cricket, they seemed to get better for batting, helped by the fact that the Dukes ball went softer more quickly than usual. Not only did this give batters more chance to find their rhythm, but you had to work harder for your wickets. The dibbly-dobblers weren’t just landing it on the seam and letting the conditions take over.

The English weather can make it difficult, but we need an emphasis on good surfaces, right down to second XI and academy level. A consequence of better pitches will be the development of our spinners. England went into Rawalpindi with three part-timers — Will Jacks, Joe Root and Liam Livingstone — and were helped by Jacks’s first-innings six-for.

But it did beg the question of where a second specialist spinner might come from. It’s great that Rehan Ahmed is here, but he’s played only three first-class matches for Leicestershire. England’s spin cupboard is a bit bare, and it will only get fuller if we have the conditions at home that give young spinners a chance to hone their skills.

Fast bowlers Mark Wood, Jofra Archer and Olly Stone are all getting injured on a regular basis

It was also evident at Rawalpindi that England lacked raw pace. Jimmy Anderson, Ollie Robinson and Stokes bowled heroically, but Mark Wood, Jofra Archer and Olly Stone are all getting injured on a regular basis.

One of the reasons is that it’s tough for a seamer to go from four overs in the T20 Blast or 20 balls in the Hundred to bowling all day in a Test or first-class game. The strength and conditioning coaches and the biomechanics experts will have to work out what is the optimum way to handle these guys. Fast bowlers always get injured, but England have had their fair share of niggles, and it’s something we need to be careful about.

Then there’s the question of franchise cricket, and trying to persuade players that the prestige of a Test cap is worth more than a lucrative T20 contract.

England were helped by Will Jacks’s first-innings six-for in the first Test against Pakistan

If you’re going to take a player out of a franchise league to go on a Test or even a one-day tour, will you feel obliged to pick him because you’ve just cost him more money than he’d earn playing for England? And is that fair on the non-franchise players? There isn’t an easy answer.

The last area England need to keep an eye on is the top-order batting. In Rawalpindi, Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett were excellent at disrupting Pakistan’s bowlers. But as we saw with Alex Lees last summer, it’s not easy applying that mindset to the Dukes ball when it’s swinging and seaming. And it won’t be easy to hit Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood out of the park in next summer’s Ashes.

The key will be that, in English conditions, you still put the opening bowlers under pressure when the ball is moving around, while understanding there is a fine line between that and being reckless. It’s a line you have to stay the right side of.

England are a thrilling team right now, and they can carry on like this — so long as we keep being alert to the areas in our game that need attention.