Ben Stokes admitted England did not measure up as they crashed to a series defeat against Pakistan but suggested there can be no scapegoats for the rout in Rawalpindi.
The tourists were railroaded for 112 within the second innings of the decisive third Test, with their lowest total since Stokes took charge two-and-a-half years ago leaving their opponents chasing just 36.
It took Pakistan only 19 deliveries to place England out of their misery as home skipper Shan Masood blitzed Shoaib Bashir for six to seal the deal before lunch on day three.
It was all a far cry from the opening Test at the beginning of the month, an innings victory that saw England declare with a merciless rating of 823 for seven on a flat track in Multan.
In the following two matches, each played on extreme turning pitches, they scored 814 across 4 innings for the lack of all 40 wickets.
Sajid Khan and Noman Ali, Pakistan’s spin bowling brothers in arms, accounted for 39 of those as familiar failings and a series of untamed dismissals got here back to haunt Stokes’ side.
“Losing games for England hurts,” he said.
“We’ve obviously underperformed because we’ve lost the last two games. We got thrown challenges and weren’t in a position to rise up to those challenges for long enough to get the outcomes we wanted.
“It doesn’t at all times work out the way in which by which you wish. With the power our batters had, we felt we were still in with a excellent likelihood of winning this game but credit to Noman and Sajid for the way in which they bowled. We’ve got to carry our hands up and say those two were too good for our batting lineup.”
The make-up of that batting order is back under scrutiny after three defeats within the last 4 games, including a shock reverse by the hands of Sri Lanka on the Oval.
Ollie Pope is attracting most attention at number three, having managed a threadbare 55 runs in five innings on tour.
He increasingly resembles an all-or-nothing player, with three superb centuries and 11 single-figure scores in an up and down 2024 that sees him average a modest 32.
Stokes, though, appeared steadfast in supporting his vice-captain.
“You possibly can’t shut the door on every little thing, then you definitely are being single-minded to what you need to do, but there isn’t a doubt in my mind that we have now one of the best top-six batsmen in England,” he said.
“Everyone goes through highs and lows. I’ve played a variety of cricket and I do know that
“While you take very small games or series and use that to evaluate what you’re doing going forward, it’s a little bit of a cut-throat approach to go about it.
“We’ve got some batsmen who’ve come off a very good summer, got some tons of and a few good scores that allowed us to achieve success throughout our English summer.
“We’ve celebrated a variety of Popey’s individual brilliance over last couple of years.”
England are prone to make good on those supportive words in the approaching days, once they announce their squad for next month’s Test tour of Recent Zealand.
Pope is virtually certain to take his place, but is in need of a robust end to his rollercoaster 12 months.
Stokes’ opposite number Masood was a contented man, having overseen his country’s first series win at home since early 2021.
“Once we played in Multan, we were told that it’s not sustainable, that we will’t take this forward,” he said.
“I believed the gloss was taken off a bit from our (second Test) win by people saying that the toss was very vital. So I’m very satisfied we lost this toss and won the match.”
READ MORE: England thrashed by Pakistan in Test series decider
