Pakistan beat England by 71 runs on day four of the third Test in Dubai to complete a 3-0 series victory, its first ever test series whitewash triumph against the English.
After yet another poor first innings showing with the bat, England were truly up against it after Pakistan had posted a very healthy 365 in their second innings, thanks mainly to superb centuries from Azhar Ali and Younis Khan on day three. That left England needing 324 to win, the second-highest fourth-innings chase in their history, and a highly unlikely target given their brittle batting displays this series.
They began the day on 36 without loss, but soon lost Andrew Strauss leg before to Abdur Rehman for 26 to complete a very disappointing series for the England skipper. Trott and Cook put up some resistance, but once Trott went just before lunch, sweeping Ajmal straight to deep backward-square, wickets fell regularly throughout the afternoon as English resistance petered out.
Pietersen, Bell and Broad all fell cheaply and although Cook, Morgan and Matt Prior tried to hang around in the middle for a while, the Pakistan spin attack of Saeed Ajmal (four for 67) and Umar Gul (four for 61) proved irresistible as they crumbled to 252 all out and a 71 run defeat with Prior left stranded on 49 not out.
Cook will take little consolation in achieving the personal milestone of becoming the second-youngest batsman in cricket history to reach 6,000 test runs as he made 49, but the fact that Pakistan became the first side since 1907 to win a test match after posting less than 100 in their first innings is the statistic that everyone will remember and that most sums up what has been a miserable series for England.