England captain Alastair Cook was full of praise for Steve Finn after the paceman's four-wicket haul helped his side beat Pakistan.
Finn was not selected for the three Tests as the selectors initially went for Chris Tremlett as the third seamer, before opting to play just two quicks and two spinners for the second and third matches.
Neither combination worked as Pakistan ran out comfortable 3-0 winners in the five-day contests to leave England sweating on their status as the number one Test side in world cricket.
The tourists have not performed well in the one-day game in recent times, and lost 5-0 to India last October, but they bounced back in style in Abu Dhabi on Monday to thrash Misbah ul-Haq's men by 130 runs, with Finn claiming four wickets to decimate the opposition top order.
And he repeated the dose on Wednesday, finishing with identical figures of 4-34 as England went 2-0 up in the series with a 20-run victory.
Cook was also at his best with a second consecutive century as England made a mockery of their Test form to ensure at least a share of the series.
Despite his heroics with the bat, Cook reserved special praise for Finn, whose pace and accuracy was just too good for the Asians.
"I thought Steven Finn was outstanding. I think his first five overs only went for seven runs," he said. "We got ahead of the game then. I thought we also fielded outstandingly well. We saved a lot of runs.
"It was a really good team performance. We'll enjoy it tonight. It's nice go 2-0 up in the series and hopefully we can finish it in Dubai."