Hussain calls for final effort as England attempt to make history

England approach the last few days of their tour with all still to play for. That hasn't always been the case in recent years, but England skipper, Nasser Hussain, knows that all the good work of the previous weeks will be forgotten if England are not able to see through their encouraging work in Pakistan.

Having not contested a Test series in Pakistan for 13 years, there was some trepidation when the series began. The Pakistan spinners, the dry pitches and unfamiliar conditions were all expected to prove difficult for the English. On the contrary, England have held their own in the two Tests to date and approach the decider in Karachi all-square and with the possibility of a series win to play for.

Nasser Hussain acknowledges that it's a case of 'so far, so good,' but he is determined to ensure that the team suffer no lapse in concentration with the finishing line in sight.

"We've not been in this part of the world for a long time, but if we keep patting ourselves on the back it's amazing how things sneak up on you like in the last Test," he warned. "I'm not interested in how well we've done, but how we're going to do in the next five days. I've said to the boys that we'll be absolute mugs if we don't give it absolutely everything.

"When we're at home for Christmas we should be able to sit back and know we gave it everything and any England cricketer in this game is a bit of a mug to go through all this hard work away from home only to let things slip in the last couple of days because we've done all right. We have to do better than all right."

England have earned the opportunity to create history in this final Test. They have only ever won one Test in Pakistan, 38 years ago, and they have never won in Karachi. Indeed, no touring side has won in Karachi in 35 attempts. The series victory against West Indies was a great achievement but that was a team in crisis. To defeat a strong Pakistan team in their own back-yard would be quite remarkable.

"That gives us a great incentive," said Hussain. "We broke a couple of records in the summer and the fact that we haven't won at this ground and we haven't won a Test out here gives us an incentive to achieve something others haven't.

"We're not turning up looking forward to getting out of here; we want to learn from the experience over the next five days and we want to do something special.

"We will remember the West Indies series for as long as we live because we did something special and if we achieve the same out here it will be something incredibly special, even more special than last summer."