Defeat also prevented England from concurrently holding all nine trophies competed for by Test-playing nations for the first time.
Advertisement
For Pakistan, it was a special win, keeping in mind it was Independence Day.
Instead, they were soundly beaten inside four days – and it was not hard to spot the weaknesses which cost them.
England resumed in trouble at 88 for four, 126 runs adrift, after Yasir had ripped through the top order with three for 15 late on Saturday.
Chandimal and de Silva shared 211 runs for the sixth wicket, rebuilding the innings from a precarious 26 for five.
“We’ve definitely dropped in standard this series”.
“For a batter, our currency is runs – and as a top order, we haven’t consistently been doing it”.
“It’s great we have strength in depth but for the majority of the time they should be putting the icing on the cake and not making the cake”.
“It’s not easy”, Cook said.
Who plays bad cop when players step out of line?
England can not afford a collective failure in the heart of the team. I can’t fault the lads’ efforts.
But it is not just the batsmen who are causing concern.
Given the one-sided nature of many recent Test series, it was ultimately enjoyable for fans of both sides and neutrals alike to witness such a closely-fought series, a cricketing feast in four courses that like all good things left you longing for just that little bit more.
But they lost two wickets in two balls soon afterwards to be 209 for eight.
His conclusion is that England were just not quite ready to be world-beaters after all.
“It probably shows exactly where we are as a side, some good games and some not so good games”.
Misbah-ul-Haq has been fined 20 per cent of his match fee, while his players have received 10 per cent fines.
“It s not ideal”, he said of Hales s conduct. I m sure he won t do that again.
However, this is the first series under Bayliss where England have come up short. We have shown in England that we are good enough to play in these conditions.
Advertisement
Cook, who is now one test win short of equaling his predecessor Andrew Strauss’s record of 24 and 3 short of England’s national record of 26 wins by Michael Vaughan, spoke on the eve of the fourth and final test of the home series against Pakistan.
