Gough braces himself for barren times

Darren Gough faces another test of patience during the second Test match at Faislabad after inspecting a pitch that will offer precious little in the way of assistance.

The Yorkshire pace bowler finished the first Test in Lahore with the unusual figures of 0-45 from 17 overs and over the next five days could find himself in a similar position - plugging away on a hard, flat track without any reward.

He took a special look at the Iqbal Stadium pitch after practice today when it emerged that two wickets had been prepared for the second Test, a green top to assist seam bowling and one that resembled Saqlain Mushtaq's dream track at Lahore.

"I'm not a big one for looking at the pitches but I had a quick look today and it looks like it's going to be similar to Lahore, which is what you come to expect in Pakistan and India," he said.

"It's not easy to bowl here, you just have to bowl straight and hope that they miss one. It's a case of hitting the deck as hard as you can and if it's your turn and they miss it, you're back in the game.

"On these pitches, if it does stay low and you get on a roll with a bit of rhythm and reverse swing you can knock a few of them over quite quickly.

"But when someone does get in on these wickets it can be pretty hard for the bowlers and you just have to keep going and I thought our seamers compared pretty favourably with theirs in the last Test."

Gough's competitive instincts have forced him back to the drawing board, trying to find news of getting results in unhelpful conditions. He is not a fan of 'boring' out his opponents, he revealed, as the Australians and South Africans had done on tours to the sub-continent.

"There's no point trying to bore the batsman out on these wickets because these guys will just sit in and wait for you to try something," he explained.

"I've tried bowling leg-spinners and I almost got a wicket with one in the last Test, you have to keep trying different things.

"I could easily have run in and gone for one run an over, but I tried to get wickets. I tried yorkers and leg-spinners, but it just didn't happen for me.

"I'm happy with the way I ran in and didn't lose heart because as a seamer there's nothing worse than showing you've lost faith in getting a wicket - you have to keep believing you can get one."

England will train at the Iqbal stadium again tomorrow and have a further look at the wicket before deciding on their line-up and Michael Vaughan will undergo a final fitness test on his calf strain before any decisions are made.