McCullum praises Brook's captaincy and England's resilience

England white-ball coach Brendon McCullum believes his team will take vital lessons from a chastening tri-series in Pakistan, but he praised the players' resilience and especially Harry Brook's captaincy after a hard-fought consolation win over Sri Lanka. Going into the final ten overs in Lahore, England had looked in serious danger of a fourth straight defeat and a third consecutive loss from a seemingly impregnable position. Ben Duckett's 167 had set Sri Lanka a target of 387, but Pavan Rathnayake, the hero of Sri Lanka's 430-run chase in Rawalpindi last week, had once again put his side on track at 300 for 5 after 40 overs. This time, however, England found the breakthroughs that had eluded them at the death in recent losses, most notably through Liam Dawson, who finished with 4 for 49 in ten overs. McCullum said he was satisfied with the character his team showed after a string of setbacks. 'It was a very satisfying performance today,' McCullum told Sky Sports. 'We were put under pressure again. We have talked extensively about wanting to get experience into some of our guys, because while we have talent, we do not have a super experienced one-day side. We were probably behind the game when they were five down, but Brooky was able to slow it down, make some plays, and we were able to get the wickets we needed. He would have grown enormously. I cannot talk highly enough of his captaincy, not just his tactics but also his leadership.' McCullum described Brook as one of the best tactical captains he has come across. He said Brook has an astute brain, wears his intelligence lightly externally, and is a very switched-on man and cricketer. He also said Brook has the respect of the entire dressing room. 'He leads them. They follow him. His leadership is interactive. It is not just him out there on his own. He calls upon many other people as well. He will have learned a lot from being thrust into a situation like this, where the game is travelling at breakneck speed and you have to make decisions that can win or lose a game,' McCullum said. McCullum acknowledged England were gutted not to have a chance of reaching the tri-series final after Sri Lanka's win over Pakistan on Monday ended any mathematical possibility. However, with the team set to move to Australia later this week for a warm-up match against Western Australia and then three further ODIs, he is adamant they remain on track for the 50-over World Cup in South Africa next year. 'We will sit back and assess what we got right, what we did not quite get right, and how we can keep getting better,' he said. 'We want to be a team that can challenge seriously for that World Cup in 12 months' time. We know we need to get better, but we will, and I am sure we will learn from these lessons. This experience has been very good for us, albeit it has been disappointing not making the final.' Despite the overall shortcomings, there were several individual performances for England to savour. Brook made a career-best 202 against Sri Lanka, Duckett scored back-to-back hundreds in the final two games, and Tom Banton hit three fifties at the top of the order. Dawson's seven wickets at 21.42 were notable too, especially because he was chosen ahead of senior spinner Adil Rashid, who was omitted for the final three games. 'Liam Dawson has done really well for us out here,' McCullum said, adding that left-arm spin had been a consistent threat across the tournament, particularly from Pakistan's Arafat Minhas, who topped the averages with nine wickets at 16.11. McCullum said England want to be a team that can adapt to different conditions and be malleable with selections. 'If you look at all three teams, legspin has not really played too much of a role. Dawson is an experienced and highly competitive player who has put his hand up here, and unfortunately for Rash on this occasion, the conditions probably went against him,' he said. England will now head to Australia before turning their focus to the World Cup, with McCullum confident that the painful lessons of Pakistan will prove useful in the long run.