Misbah-ul-Haq sets sights on England

Misbah-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain, has already set his sights on the home series against England in the UAE, in January and February 2012, after completing a successful tour of Bangladesh. The Pakistan team returned home on Friday after winning all their matches in Bangladesh - two Tests, three ODIs and a Twenty20 international - to end a successful year.

Their next assignment is against England, the No.1 ranked Test side. Pakistan are presently No. 5, above Sri Lanka, their best rating since March 2009. "The series against England is important, and very tough," Misbah said in Lahore. "England is the world's best Test team, but on current form we can beat any team."

Since taking over the captaincy from Salman Butt, following the spot-fixing scandal on the tour of England in 2010, Misbah led Pakistan in 13 Tests, of which they won six, drew six and lost one. Misbah, however, said there was scope for improvement. "Despite achieving some good results we still need to overcome some of the mistakes we committed. The management as well as the players are determined to overcome them because England will be really tough.

"Our targets on the Bangladesh tour were to keep consistency in our performance, overcome some of the mistakes and improve our rankings, and we achieved that."

The results in Bangladesh came soon after the success against Sri Lanka in the UAE, where Pakistan won the Tests 1-0 and the ODIs 4-1. "The best part about this team is that we have good coordination among the seniors and juniors," Misbah said. "The support staff is helping players, and each and every player realises his duty, and that will help us against England."

Pakistan retained the interim coach Mohsin Khan for the series against England, while they continue their search for a permanent replacement for Waqar Younis. Mohsin also said the team was already looking forward to 2012. " We played good cricket all year long and hence the year ends on a successful note. Now the wins over Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are part of history," he said. "We have to start afresh against England and need to raise our game because the next opponents are very strong and ranked No. 1 in the world. We are coming through a successful winning record and I am confident that we can obtain very good results against them."

Pakistan selectors will meet next week to pick the squad against England. There will be a training camp in Lahore before the departure for the UAE, where the first Test begins on January 17.