England captain Harry Brook admits his side were 'too careful' against Pakistan’s spinners after collapsing to a disappointing 87-run defeat in their ODI tri-series opener. Arafat Minhas starred with bat and ball in Rawalpindi for the hosts, who recovered from 133-5 to post 302-9 from their 50 overs before skittling England for 215 to claim their second win of the tournament. Pakistan's all-rounder fired 59 off 58 deliveries and was part of a strong lower middle-order fightback, with Hasan Nawaz top-scoring with a 74-ball 79 and Faheem Ashraf adding 39 off 26 deliveries in the closing overs.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Tom Banton and Ben Duckett shifted the momentum in England's favour with a 91-run opening stand, only for Arafat to bamboozle the visitors with a career-best 6-40 and help Pakistan wrap up victory with more than 11 overs to spare. "We thought they [Pakistan] were slightly under par," Brook said after their defeat. "It got dewy, as we thought it would do and we were pretty happy at halfway.
"We thought [Tom] Banton, Ducky [Ben Duckett] set the tone to nearly get a 100 partnership and then it was a case of losing too many wickets in clumps. We couldn't really string the partnerships together and we ended up on the wrong side. "We've spoken a lot about rotation of strike through the middle but I think we were a little too careful against the spinners especially, so we can probably put them under a little bit more pressure in stages.
"We've got to tonight to talk about it and tomorrow and bounce back better on Thursday." England were well placed at 165-3 - despite Arafat removing Banton (57) and Brook (five) - when Naseem Shah bowled Joe Root for 33, with the tourists still in a good position until losing their last five wickets for 18 runs in a chaotic five-over spell. Jordan Cox was trapped lbw by Arafat before Pakistan's spinner removed Jamie Overton in his next over, with the manner of the dismissal criticised by former England bowler Stuart Broad on commentary. "That's appalling batting," Broad told Sky Sports, having seen England slip to 205-7.
"With Will Jacks at the other end, you're saying England have a chance, you play for your partner. "You say you have a weakness against spin, that's certainly not what you do - he's just chipped it down long-on's throat. A poor wicket for England to lose." Arafat closed out victory by being involved in all three final wickets, coming in the space of four balls, dismissing Jacks and Adil Rashid in successive deliveries before running out Gus Atkinson.
He became the third Pakistan all-rounder - after Abdul Razzaq and Shahid Afridi - to grab a five-wicket haul and score a half-century in an ODI, with the 21-year-old proud of his man-of-the-match display. "Hasan [Nawaz] and I discussed that we need to bat deep," Arafat said. "I took charge after Hasan got out and I tried to bat until the end of the innings, which helped in taking the score beyond 300." On his bowling, Arafat added: "I kept my plans simple.
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