By Jonathan Agnew BBC cricket correspondent in Multan

Pakistan deserve great credit for recording a fighting and dramatic victory, but the truth is England threw the game away, and they can have no excuses.

At 64-1, and with Ian Bell and Andrew Strauss apparently in full control of the situation, England were coasting.

They needed only 134 more with nine wickets left and virtually the whole day in which to bat.

England's batsmen struggled to fathom Kaneria's variations

But it seemed England wanted to finish the game in a rush, and rather than carefully and meticulously knocking off the runs, they went at it far too aggressively.

Part of the reason for this is that none of the batsmen appeared to have a clue what Danish Kaneria was doing with the ball.

Shane Warne took 40 wickets against England in the summer, but you could count the number of googlies he bowled throughout the series on one hand.

Kaneria has an excellent googly in his repertoire, plus a good top spinner, and he had the batsmen groping around, unable to read the ball from his hand, consequently not knowing which way it was spinning.

Andrew Flintoff's response was to hit out, and his second dismissal in the match to a catch in the deep was bordering on the irresponsible.

Kevin Pietersen was also clueless when it came to dealing with Kaneria and there must be a real chance that Pakistan will include Shahid Afridi in the second Test so they can torture England from both ends simultaneously.

Flintoff's second dismissal to a catch in the deep was bordering on the irresponsible

But Pakistan's recovery in this match started well before Kaneria's magical over in the morning that claimed Bell and Strauss within four balls.

England lost their way in their first innings when, from 198-1 and 251-2, they failed to build up a total of 550.

That would have been too much for Pakistan, and left them only with the draw as a possible escape route.

But England's batting was too cavalier once again, and they lost seven wickets for 165 on the third day.

The level of preparation that England have had prior to the Test is sure to be debated again.

Are two games, only one of which was played as a first class match, really enough to enable the cricketers to play a Test at the very best of their capabilities, particularly when the conditions here are so very different from those at home?

I felt that England were underprepared in South Africa last year, but they got away with it.

In Pakistan, the cricket is much more unforgiving, which is why England have only ever won two Tests here.