Morgan upbeat despite England loss

● Pakistan deny hosts 5-0 whitewash but captain hails side’s ‘outstanding’ summer

Eoin Morgan refuses to let England’s near miss in Cardiff take the gloss off their “outstanding” summer in one-day international cricket.

England’s four-wicket defeat by Pakistan, who chased 302 for nine with ten balls to spare on the back of a record fourthwicket stand of 163 between Sarfraz Ahmed and Shoaib Malik, means the quest for a first 5-0 home whitewash must go on.

Morgan’s team will also not become the first to go through an English summer unbeaten in white-ball cricket.

The Irishman did not deny his natural disappointment after England had to settle for a 4-1 series victory, but was looking optimistically at the bigger picture – which includes a Champions Trophy next season and then a World Cup in 2019, both on home soil.

“We’ve been outstanding,” he said of England’s series wins over Sri Lanka and Pakistan this summer.

“One of the things we identified before the Pakistan tour was we want to strive to be as consistent as we can.

“We don’t want to be the best one day and the worst another.

“Every game throughout the series, we’ve come out with a hunger and determination to perform at our best.”

England had a shot at 5-0 after a hard-fought four-wicket win at Headingley three days ago. But even after Jason Roy (87) and Ben Stokes (75) had put them in a promising position, they faltered marginally despite topping 300 – and then Sarfraz (90) and Shoaib (77) underpinned Pakistan’s successful chase.

Morgan added: “Even after winning the series 3-0 and being pushed back chasing 250, I thought we showed a huge amount of character at Leeds.

“We have shown a lot of strength throughout this series, and more to build on.”

Morgan’s opposite number Azhar Ali gave no fuel to rumours in Pakistan that he may be about to resign his position, instead projecting future improvement for a team languishing at ninth in the world rankings.

He said: “It’s a very happy camp right now – because it has been a very tough tour for us in ODIS, and getting a victory at the end and finishing on a high is really good.

“A few guys we have seen on this tour have really stepped up – they are young guys, and if they can play good consistent cricket we are looking at a bright future.”

0 Sarfraz Ahmed made 90 as Pakistan won by four wickets.