England's Barmy Army always bring the weather with them

England's collapse with the bat, rather than the temperatures in Dubai, left the Barmy Army cold, writes Paul Radley.

England’s travelling Barmy Army supporters were not warmed by the cold weather nor the action at the crease from their team.

Inside the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Younis Khan and a number of his Pakistan teammates were running through their warm up fielding drills while sporting long-sleeve sweaters.

Umar Gul, the fast bowler, was wearing recovery tights, probably more for warmth than any discernible medical reason.

Dubai does not do frosty mornings, but England's commendably large band of travelling supporters might have expected a little better after escaping the plunging temperatures back home to watch a Test series in the desert.

At 9am yesterday morning, one coach load of touring supporters poured out of a bus looking ready for summer. The forecast 20 degree highs were still some way off at that point, though.

Wherever the English go, it seems they take the weather with them.

Back in 2009, Stoke City's football team took advantage of a break in the Premier League schedule to circumvent the seasonal affective disorder which pervades winter in the UK.

They went to Ras Al Khaimah for six days. And it promptly snowed. So rare is this occurrence, the dialect local to the northern emirate does not have a word for the fluffy, freezing white form of precipitation.

England's travelling cricket supporters are used to it, of course. Wintry in Dubai means something wholly different to wintry in the UK, and, by mid-afternoon, some English tourists were munching on ice-creams, even though they were sat in the shaded seats.

"It has been nippy, and we are in the shade all day here," said one of the Platinum seat ticket holders, John Dowd, a Liverpudlian who now lives in Kenya.

Neither did the away fans have a performance from their team to warm the cockles of their hearts, as England's players spluttered on their field.

The recent past has been very good to English cricket tourists, so a bad day on a foreign field prompted some alien feelings.

"It was shocking," Dowd, whose most recent away tour with England was to South Africa two winters ago, said of their first day display with the bat.

"Most of the batsmen were out to poor shots. It is fair to say it will have an effect on my trip.

"What are we going to do if it doesn't go to five days? We'll have to go and play golf."

As is their wont, the Barmy Army did their best to rouse their side. The Barmy Bugler had some novel acoustics to work with, as his tunes echoed around the 25,000 seater stadium - around 23,000 of which were empty.

The number of vacant seats increased a little more when, at 2pm, a group of Dubai schoolchildren who had been let in for free, filed out of the ground, just as the trumpeter was performing a rousing rendition of the Last Post.

"We're a little bit disappointed by the size of the crowd, but not really surprised because it's a work day and its difficult for people to get time off," said Andrew Dancox, another England supporters, who has lived in Dubai for 10 years.

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