Rawalpindi, October 27 (IANS). England head coach Brendon McCullum acknowledged his team's “missed opportunities” after Pakistan sealed 2-1 series wins with decisive spin-friendly tactics in Multan and Rawalpindi. McCullum showed generosity but admitted that despite scoring a historic 800-plus in the opener, his team faltered as Pakistan shuffled their lineup and took advantage of the turn-rich pitches.
After a ruthless innings victory on a flat Multan pitch, Pakistan introduced spinning surfaces with a new selection panel, with Sajid Khan and Noman Ali sharing 39 of the 40 English wickets. His bowling turned the series around, bowling out England for just 814 runs in four innings, leading to a rapid turnaround in Pakistan's favour.
McCullum told Sky Sports, “Credit to Pakistan, the way both those spinners bowled was brilliant. I thought they varied the pace beautifully. Noman from one end, sometimes fast. We bowled the pace down, and Sajid turned it around and bowled slower at times. I thought it was great partnership bowling. And unfortunately our players were not able to handle the pressure.” “When teams come to England, ideally we play on surfaces that we are more familiar with, which allows our strengths to really flourish and perhaps hide some of the weaknesses that every team has,” McCullum said. “It happens naturally.”
England's batting struggles, particularly those of Ollie Pope, Jack Crawley and Harry Brook, highlighted their lack of adaptation under pressure. Brook, after shining in the first Test, faltered in the last four innings with a high score of 26. The England head coach said, “I wonder why it took Pakistan so long. Because when you go to Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh, the ball always turns. A few years ago or in that first Test match, where the ball was turning quite We had a different challenge here. It will be interesting to see whether they continue these types of services, but certainly, from our point of view, we had no chances. And we finished second.”
McCullum defended England's batting unit, saying it was the best they had ever faced, but admitted that Pakistan played to their strengths, hence there was a lack of adaptation. He also pointed to England's spinners, Shoaib Bashir and Jack Leach, who could not replicate the success of the Pakistani spinners despite similar conditions. McCullum said, “This is almost the same batting group that came here two years ago and did brilliantly in these conditions, and it is the same batting group that scored 800 runs in the first Test match. But as the conditions changed “We faced different challenges and we weren't able to adapt to those challenges, and that's a lost opportunity.”
He said, “I have no doubt, and the captain has no doubt, that the batting group we have had in the last 18 months is the best we have had. We have full confidence, we just have to make sure “It's about allowing players to develop and become the players they want to be and that will benefit them.”
Reflecting on lessons learned, the former New Zealand batsman said, “You always try to improve, but you have to be really careful not to look for perfection because in an inconsistent game that doesn't exist. We In playing sports, there are times when it doesn't go the way you want, but you still have to persevere.
“We will all face spinning conditions at some stage in the future, and we hope that the good and bad lessons we have learned during this series will give us a little more of a basis to be successful,” he said.
–IANS
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