England Must Learn Quickly From Their Mistakes

Joe Root, the skipper of the England Test team, has admitted that his side has been comprehensively outclassed by the inexperienced Pakistan side as the visitors won the first Test at Lord’s by nine wickets.

Cricket news: We need to do better as we were outplayed in all departments, says Root

England won the toss and decided to bat first but were bundled up for 184 on the first day of the Test. They could never come back from that slump and were handed a first time defeat in a May Test at Lord’s, the home of cricket, after their series losses against Australia and New Zealand.

“We got it wrong, we know that,” Root told reporters on Sunday. “These conditions suit us as well. It’s a talented team and there are guys in there who will do great things for England.”

Pakistan scored 363 runs in their first innings. England collapsed again in their second innings to 110 for six when a seventh-wicket partnership of 126 runs between Jos Buttler and Dom Bess prevented an innings defeat and forced the match to the fourth day.

“We have been out-performed in all three departments, we have to be better,” Root said. “There have been a number of collapses recently and we have to find a way as a group.”

England had last lost a home summer first Test in 1995 against West Indies. They now have only four days in hand to prepare and level the series in the final Test at Headingley, which starts from Friday.

“We have to be more patient and take our opportunities when we get them. We can do that next week and we must take that chance,” Root said.

“We can’t ignore this, we have to learn from it quickly. A lot of the things that we do are very good.”

Although batsmen Mark Stoneman and Dawid Malan are having a poor run of form, England who are fifth in the world Test rankings, might go to the final Test with their squads unchanged.

“We are ambitious, we want to win but sometimes we make poor decisions,” Root said.

“It’s about the number of runs you score, not how long it takes you and maybe we need to absorb a bit more. You have to recognise the right times to attack.”

England had last lost a home Test series against Sri Lanka in 2014 and since then they have won five and drawn two. England will face top-ranked India for a five-Test series which will start from August.