Coach confident Pakistan will be better after English lesson

LEEDS: Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur insisted his side would benefit from a 4-0 one-day series defeat by World Cup hosts England when the showpiece tournament starts later this month.

England, the world’s topranked ODI side, triumphed by 54 runs in Sunday’s finale at Headingley as, not for the first time this series, Pakistan’s bowling and especially their fielding let them down.

Yet the match was the first time in a completed innings this campaign where Pakistan, bowled out for 297, had failed to post a total of 340 or more.

But Sunday’s game did see Babar Azam follow up his 115 at Trent Bridge on Friday with 80, while captain Sarfraz Ahmed made 97 before being run out in unusual fashion by wicket-keeper Jos Buttler.

Arthur insisted he was in a much better mood now than he had been after Pakistan suffered a humiliating 124 run-opening defeat on the Duckworth/Lewis method by India in Birmingham at the 2017 Champions Trophy — an ODI tournament they bounced back to win by defeating their arch-rivals in the final.

“We were beaten hands down at Edgbaston that day and I didn’t really know where to turn because there wasn’t a hell of a lot of positives out of that day,” said Arthur.

“We sit here having taken a huge amount of positives out of this series. I thought our batting has gone to another level.

“People, coming to England, said we were a 280 team. We’ve dispelled that, that’s given our batting unit a massive amount of confidence in the dressing room.”

Moreover, Arthur was adamant the series against World Cup favourites England would help Pakistan.

“We’ll be ready — come the first game against the West Indies, we’ll be ready.

“I’m as confident we’ll do well as I’ve ever been.”

Meanwhile, Arthur said leftarm quick Mohammad Amir, recently sidelined with chicken pox, could yet make it into Pakistan’s final 15-man squad for the World Cup.