Root and Buttler hit tons but England stunned by ‘really bad day in the field’
● Pakistan halt 11-match losing run in style by beating the home favourites
Joe Root has stressed the importance of staying calm despite England suffering their first setback of the World Cup after a surprise 14-run loss to Pakistan at Trent Bridge.
Centuries from Root and Jos Buttler were scant consolation for the tournament favourites as Pakistan turned the form book on its head, snapping a run of 11 consecutive one-day international losses.
However, the round-robin nature of the group stage means defeat is not a disaster by any means for England and Root believes they will regroup ahead of Saturday’s trip to Cardiff to tackle Bangladesh.
The Yorkshire man said: “The most imp or tant thing now for us as a group is not to panic.
“We know what works for us as a formula, and as a team, but other sides are allowed to play well and we’ve got to make sure we learn quickly and b ounce back at Cardiff. The temptation is to get a little bit tense, but one of our great strengths as a side is sticking to the way we go about things and be as smart as possible.
“The beauty of this format is that I do believe the best four teams over the tournament will qualify for the semi-finals and we’ve got to make sure we play some good cricket in our remaining games.
“One thing this side doesn’t do very often is to make the same mistake twice and I’m sure the guys will make sure it’s a very different performance against Bangladesh .”
Pakistan posted 348 for eight which, if overhauled, would have set a new tournament record for the highest successful chase yet it was insurmountable for England.
Root (107) and Buttler (103) came together at 118 for four and, though their 130- run stand raised hope so fan unlikely victory, England were ultimately left to rue an uncharacteristically derisory effort in the field.
Mo ham mad Ha feezw as dropped on 14 by Jason Roy before going on to amass 84 while there were mis-fields and over throws from a side that delivered a masterclass in fielding when they defeated South Africa in the curtainraiser last week.
England captain Eoin Morgan said: “I don’t think it was that bad a day. It was just a really bad day in the field. It hasn’t happened a lot with us but there were mistakes that we don’t normally make. And that’s disappointing.
“We’ve gone from probably one of our best performances in the field at the Oval to, not extremely bad, but it’ s cost us probably 15-20 runs in the field which is a lot in the oneday game.
“Our performances with bat and ball throughout the tournament will ebb and flow.”
Has an Ali, meanwhile, insists Pakistan never lost selfbelief despite that long losing streak. The 11 defeats included a 4-0 hammering in the recent series against England and being skittled for 105 in their tournament opener against the West Indies. Hasan said: “We were very disappointed we lost 11 games in a row but one thing is very important, we believed in ourselves.
“We needed just a little bit of kick and then we will click. We got that kick. We needed the win because we are playing at the World Cup. The World Cup is a different game, you have a lot of pressure.
“After the first match, we sat down and talked about our weakness and about our plans and execution, all these things.
“But one thing is very important, which is our coach [Mickey Arthur] is always backing us. That moment turned us as everyone was confident.”
England might have home advantage at the tournament but the stands were full of Pakistan supporters, who made themselves heard.
Hasan said: “There is a lot of Pakistani community who always come and support us.
“We appreciate it, especially when we cannot play too many games in Pakistan.”