 |  They gave us a bit of a hiding |
England captain Marcus Trescothick promised a better effort in the two games remaining on their Pakistan tour after a 165-run thrashing in Karachi. They have three days to regroup before the series resumes in Rawalpindi, but are facing a tall order.
"It's disappointing but we were thoroughly beaten by the better team.
"We're 2-1 down in a five-match series, so we know what we have to do. We'll have a couple of days off and hopefully bounce back well," said Trescothick.
He defended his decision to put Pakistan in after winning the toss - a decision which backfired badly as the home side totalled 353-6.
"It swung a little bit first up. The boys bowled pretty well for the first few overs but credit to the way the (Pakistan) guys played. They dug in, hung around for a little bit and then made the most of it after that," he said.
"I thought we'd be chasing 300, or something like that, which I'd back us to chase down on these sort of wickets. But we were never at the party really.
 Trescothick tries in vain to stem the flow of runs |
"We needed a good start - that was for sure. But we lost two wickets in two or three overs, and were behind the eight-ball very early on."
Trescothick acknowledged that the advance England have made in Test cricket, crowned by their Ashes victory over Australia earlier this year, had not been replicated in the shorter form of the game.
"We need to address this because we are not far off from major tournaments.
"I don't know why it is like this. Perhaps it is the mental side of our game or about our reading off situations, but we have to make sure we have to get over it.
"We haven't performed as well we can and I am sure we can start in the next two games.
"We have been in similar situations and we have worked them out before. I am sure we can do it again," he commented.
Trescothick, who is captaining the team following Michael Vaughan's return home for knee surgery, earned a post-match ovation for praising the crowd inside the National Stadium.
The England and Wales Cricket Board declined to play a Test in Karachi because of security concerns.
But they went ahead with the one-day game despite a bomb explosion last month not far from the team hotel and it attracted a crowd of around 33,000.
"The crowd have been fantastic.
"I hope they've enjoyed the game. They've really been good to play for," Trescothick added.
MMIX
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