Harry Brook admits ‘standout performer’ Arafat Minhas had England in a spin
The Pakistan all-rounder shone with bat and ball to set up an 87-run win for the hosts in the one-day international in Rawalpindi.
Harry Brook admitted England’s batters went into their shells when faced with spin as they started their winter and the one-day international tri-series in Pakistan with a heavy defeat.
Arafat Minhas walked to the crease with Pakistan on 133 for five but his 59 off 58 balls lifted his side to 302 for nine before the left-arm spinner took a career-best six wickets for 40 runs as England capitulated.
Openers Tom Banton and Ben Duckett put on 91 but England lost their way thereafter, with Arafat making inroads and off-spinner Saim Ayub in a containing role as the tourists were all out for 215 to lose by 87 runs.
Kevin Pietersen last month gave England a spin masterclass in his new role as specialist mentor, extolling the virtues of rotating the strike, but Brook believes he and his team-mates took their foot off the gas too much after Banton and Duckett had laid the foundations for the chase.
“At the halfway stage, we were pretty happy,” England’s white-ball captain said. “I thought we kept them to just below par and we executed our plans exceptionally well and unfortunately we didn’t manage to get it quite right with the bat.
“The story of the innings was not enough partnerships and losing wickets in clumps. We didn’t manage to put their bowlers under enough pressure to make them miss and that’s something we’ll talk about.
“I probably could have hit the ball a little bit harder, but I think that was throughout.
“We’ve been speaking a lot about rotation of strike against spin through the middle overs but we could still be putting bowlers under pressure and hit boundaries as well.”
Arafat was playing in just his fifth ODI and although his first wicket was down to luck as the in-form Banton picked out midwicket for 57, the 21-year-old bamboozled Brook with a delivery that gripped and turned past the outside edge to castle the Yorkshireman.
Arafat then took out England’s lower order with four more wickets then concluded proceedings with a direct hit run-out to give Pakistan a second win, having seen off Sri Lanka at the weekend.
Brook said: “He’s a nice bowler, he bowled very well. I thought they fielded exceptionally well. We’ve all seen videos of him but obviously we haven’t played against him much – but he was the standout performer by a mile.”
England, who face Sri Lanka at the same venue on Thursday, have won all three ODI series this year after losing six of seven bilateral series before that.
While conditions will be different for the 50-over World Cup in southern Africa in 12 months’ time, Brook welcomed the test England faced from Pakistan, who dug themselves out of trouble more than once.
“Definitely, and we’re definitely that side as well,” Brook added. “We won’t go down without a fight and we’ll always be there or thereabouts.
“It feels like that’s the most convincing loss we’ve had since last year sometime. It’s a good sign in one way but we’ve got tonight and tomorrow to talk about it and get ready for Sri Lanka on Thursday.”