McCullum says England must learn to handle pressure after second narrow tri-series defeat

England 'gutted' as Shadab Khan steals the game in Lahore

Brendon McCullum, the England white-ball coach, said his team was "gutted" after losing a second consecutive game in the ongoing tri-series in which they held a firm grip, but acknowledged they have work to do in the format ahead of next year's World Cup.

After failing to defend 429 against Sri Lanka in Rawalpindi, England had Pakistan on the mat at 154 for 9 in Lahore while defending 241. McCullum admitted that total was below par. However, Shadab Khan's sensational unbeaten 113 guided a last-wicket heist alongside Haris Rauf, handing England a rude shock.

Not unlucky, just not good enough

Asked whether England were unlucky or simply not good enough after two close defeats, McCullum leaned towards the latter and said England needed to handle crunch situations better.

"Any time you lose, you obviously haven't been good enough to win. So clearly you've got some work to do," McCullum told reporters after the game.

He added that the two games were very different, and that the players had been exposed to high-pressure moments that required new solutions.

"How do we remain calm, how do we keep our poise and how do we start to plot and plan and navigate our way through those pressure moments. So that will be the conversations we will have in the next few days."

An inexperienced side with a World Cup in sight

McCullum stressed that his players need more experience. From the XI that took the field on Sunday, only four - Joe Root, Sam Curran, Gus Atkinson and skipper Harry Brook - have played an ODI World Cup game.

"I think for our boys, they are inexperienced. And we know that on the calendar in 12 months' time there's a big World Cup which for us to be serious challengers at, we've been open to admit that we need to get better. And we need to get experiences into these guys as quick as we could."

He said it would have been better for those experiences to come in winning causes, but insisted there were useful lessons from both defeats, whether in constructing a steep chase like Sri Lanka did in Rawalpindi or turning a chase around like Pakistan did on Sunday.

"If you are behind the game and you're chasing, how are you able to manufacture a way for your set batter to get as much access to the ball as possible and still remain calm, and ultimately put the opposition under pressure down the back end of the game."

Lessons from Shadab's innings

McCullum also pointed to Shadab's knock as a lesson for England's younger players. It was only the third ODI hundred by a batter at No. 8.

"I thought it was an incredibly poised innings that was full of cricket intelligence," McCullum said. "And also I thought his ability to be able to manipulate his way to get enough access to the ball as he could, batting alongside the tail, was a great example for our boys who are still young and inexperienced."

Qualification now in the balance

Having lost all three games so far, England's qualification for the final is no longer in their own hands. They must beat Sri Lanka on Tuesday and hope Pakistan do them a favour a couple of days later, with net run-rate then likely to come into play.