England’s Barmy Army of noisy fans were left with an empty feeling as their team slipped to defeat by Pakistan inside three days in a first Test played in a ghostly 25,000-capacity Dubai Stadium. Dressed in England’s blue one-day colours, the Barmy Army, who follow their team around the world, outnumbered the Pakistani fans who struggle to get time off from their jobs in the Gulf State. “It’s exciting to be here in the UAE, but the stands are silent,” Graham Ffitch told AFP. “We hope to get real competition in the stands from the Indian fans when England go there in October this year.” England will tour Sri Lanka in April and face a real challenge to maintain their world number one Test status in the sub-continent, regarded as their weak point. Things have not started well. England crumbled against Saeed Ajmal on the first day of the first Test as the off-spinner took a career-best 7-55 to bundle the tourists out for 192.
