England v Pakistan: Story of 2015 Test series in UAE

England and Pakistan meet again in the first of a four-Test series at Lord's on Thursday, live on Sky Sports.

England will be looking to continue their successful summer so far, having bested Sri Lanka without defeat in any Test, ODI and T20I, but things did not exactly go their way the last time they faced Pakistan.

England slipped to a 2-0 series defeat over three Tests against Pakistan in the autumn of 2015. Here's a look at how it all unfolded...

First Test, Abu Dhabi
Pakistan 523-8 dec & 173 drew with England 598-9 dec & 74/4

Finding themselves in the field on the flattest of pitches, England made life tough for themselves, with both Mohammad Hafeez (98) and Asad Shafiq (107) dropped early on by Ian Bell. As if that wasn't bad enough, Shoaib Malik (245) was caught off a Broad no-ball when on 40 - his eventual innings spanning nearly 10 hours - and Adil Rashid (0-163) registered the worst figures on debut in Test history.

The bedrock of the visitor's reply was an 836-minute marathon from Alastair Cook (263), the longest innings in England Test history. Further runs from Bell (63), Joe Root (85) and Ben Stokes (57) meant that Cook was able to declare on the final morning with a lead of 75 with the match looking like it was meandering to a draw.

Pakistan reached tea on 102-3 but enter Adil Rashid. The legspinner made amends for his first innings troubles, turning the ball sharply to take 5-64, the first five-wicket haul by an English legspinner since the 1950s. Incredibly, Pakistan crumbled to 173 all out, giving the visitors the chance to chase 99 runs to win in a nominal 19 overs, their only problem the fast-fading light. They had reached 74-4 by the time the umpires called a halt to proceedings with Cook's side a tantalising 25 runs short of the most unlikely of triumphs.

Second Test, Dubai
Pakistan 378 & 354-6 dec beat England 242 & 312 by 178 runs

Batting first once more, Pakistan lost early wickets but recovered through Misbah-Ul-Haq (102) and Shafiq (83) to reach 378, with Mark Wood (3-39) the pick of England's attack. Despite losing makeshift opener Moeen Ali (1) and Bell (4) early on, Cook (65) and Root (88) carried the visitors to the relative comfort of 206/3 before a dramatic collapse at the hands of Wahab Riaz (4-66) and legspinner Yasir Shah (4-93) saw them lose 7-36 to finish 136 behind on first innings.

A 31st Test century from Younus Khan (118) allowed his captain Misbah (87) to declare on the fourth afternoon with England needing to bat for 144 overs to survive, or score 491 runs to win. With Moeen (1) again out cheaply and Cook (10) too going early, a Pakistan victory seemed on the cards, particularly with the pitch wearing.

Root (71) fell early on the final day, while failures from Jonny Bairstow (22), Jos Buttler (7) and Stokes (13) to Pakistan's spin attack signalled defeat. However, Rashid (61) held firm for nearly four hours, ably supported by Stuart Broad (30) for 70 minutes and Mark Wood (29) for 116. By the time the latter was dismissed, there were only 11 overs left in the match. But Rashid's patience finally snapped as he lofted man-of-the-match Shah (4-87) to cover with England bowled out an agonising six overs from safety.

Third Test, Sharjah
Pakistan 234 & 355 beat England 306 & 156 by 127 runs

On a Sharjah surface that was expected to spin from the start, Pakistan again won the toss and batted. Samit Patel was recalled as part of a three-pronged spin attack for England, alongside Rashid and Moeen. In the event, it was the pacemen, in the shape of James Anderson (4-17) and Broad (2-13), who bundled the home side out for 234.

In reply, it was a tale of the batsmen getting in and getting out as their trial by spin continued, with Cook (49), Bell (40), Bairstow (43) and Patel (42) all failing to provide the big score necessary to secure a commanding lead. James Taylor (76), in his first Test for three years, kicked on to a slightly greater score, seeing Cook's men to a score of 306. Second time round, Pakistan were indebted to Hafeez (151), as further ineffective spin bowling by England, alongside poor catching and wicketkeeping, meant an eventual target of 284 for the visitors to square the series.

They never looked likely to succeed - Cook (63) was resolute but Pakistan spinners, Zulfiqar Babar (2-31), Malik (3-26) and man-of-the-series, Shah (4-44), again proved far more potent than their English counterparts. Defeat by 127 runs saw England slip to sixth in the ICC Test rankings whilst Misbah's team were left riding high in second place.