England team director Andy Flower says he was surprised by how poorly his batsmen performed in the Test series against Pakistan, but was willing to take the blame for allowing them too much time off.

An attritional series was expected in the United Arab Emirates, yet none of the three Tests went into a fifth day as England's batsmen repeatedly struggled to deal with Pakistan's spinners.

A series whitewash was the result, with Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman and Mohammad Hafeez claiming 48 of the 60 English wickets that fell.

"I don't think our commitment and our hunger to win have been down," said Flower. "But we spent a couple of months out of the game and not doing a lot while Pakistan were beating Sri Lanka and working hard to beat Bangladesh and that hardened them up for this contest.

"Looking back now I don't think we were ready. I shoulder that side of the blame because it was my decision to give them that time off. We won't let that happen again.

"Certainly during that rest time our team and support staff were all being lauded and while that was happening Pakistan were working hard at their game and beating international opposition.

"Consequently one side was sharp and ready and one wasn't and we have got to do something about that. We do have a lot of faith in our players and that faith has been justified over a long period of time. But we've obviously under-performed here badly."

Such a comprehensive series defeat as a consequence of poor batting has led the English media and fans to wonder whether a change in personnel might help as they prepare for a trip to Sri Lanka.

Yet Flower expressed confidence in his current crop of batsmen, despite them scoring more than 200 just twice in six innings.

"We do have a lot of faith in our players and that faith has been justified over a long period of time," he said.

"But we've obviously under performed here badly. I've been surprised by how poorly we've batted out there.

"We've had some outstanding performances from the bowlers, backed up in the field, but the very obvious area (of weakness) is playing the spin.

"We have too take the lessons that have been learned here and improve our skills and improve our method for the Sri Lankan tour."