England vs Pakistan: England beaten by six wickets in first ODI

There will be many twists and turns, highs and lows, ebbs and flows on the way to the next World Cup. That is the tournament on home soil in 2019 which England have designated as the must compete, if not exactly must win, after their shambolic displays in the last six events.

Slightly more pressing and only a shade less significant is the 2017 version of the Champions Trophy, which is also being played in England. The management have promised that this time it is different, this time they mean business, this time the limited overs team will not be treated as poor relations grudgingly invited to the party and told to stay in the kitchen.

Since last summer, a new team have been revitalised, playing with a zest rarely seen among their many predecessors. But they are a work in progress, now discovering that flair and freshness are not in themselves quite sufficient.

Not that there was much flair about England in losing the first of four one-day internationals against Pakistan by six wickets. They lost wickets in clusters, the first three for 14 runs and then four more for another 14.

They might have overcome the former indiscretions against some skilful new ball bowling had the latter losses not transpired. It seemed as though Eoin Morgan and James Taylor had pulled them from the mire in a fourth-wicket partnership of 133 but they both departed in another flurry of wickets, this time to spin.

A total of 216 – when 250 might have made for a tight contest even on a surface demanding nearer 300 – was never likely to be enough. Pakistan also lost early batsmen, to Reece Topley, who was taking his first ODI wickets, but a small target made it easier to regroup.

They knew England would have to do the hard work and they cantered homewards with 6.2 overs to spare. Mohammad Hafeez, scorer of an accomplished hundred in the final Test in Sharjah last week, made 102no from 130 balls. It was his 11th one-day hundred and he was never troubled. Babar Azam, a recently arrived 21-year-old, accompanied him with eye-catching class in an unbroken stand of 106.

It leaves England with plenty to ponder if they are to make a fist of this series. Andrew Strauss, the director of cricket, has been in the UAE for the last few days and gave broadcast interviews yesterday to outline his limited overs vision.

“The area that needs most attention is white ball cricket,” he told Sky Sports. “If we keep doing the same thing we’ll get the same results.”

Strauss has already made it clear that he will be sympathetic to requests from players to appear in the various Twenty20 club tournaments round the world and David Willey will be playing soon for Perth Scorchers in Australia’s Big Bash. But he is adamant, too, that more will be done at home. “We have put some proposals to the counties about restructuring domestically to get white ball cricket in blocks and hopefully we’ll have something in place by 2017,” he said.

He also foresaw a day in the near future when there would be clearer demarcation between limited overs and Test cricket for England, although three or four players will always be expected to appear in both. Someday soon, players will be rested from Tests to ensure they are fully prepared for a one-day series.

“If we’ve got more specialists, we can give more opportunity,” he said. “More specialism has to happen. We have to be really clear in terms of our selection policy and general philosophy.”

England won what seemed to be a welcome toss yesterday, having lost it for all three of the Test matches. The apparent advantage of this dissipated quickly. Jason Roy was bowled by the second ball, from Mohammad Irfan, and in the next over Joe Root was lbw to Anwar Ali. When Alex Hales edged to slip, England were in deep trouble.

Morgan and Taylor were not disconcerted. They ran quick singles, they made sure the power play was not wasted and England recovered to 98 for 3 after 20 overs. A total of 300 was still in prospect.

Then it all went wrong again. Morgan essayed a drive and edge behind, Taylor clipped to mid-wicket. Between them there was the unfortunate sight of Jos Buttler, out of form and luck, being run out after being called for a sharp single.

England could not recover from that and their quick wickets offered false hope (though not, of course, for Topley). The spin on offer was innocuous. Although Younis Khan, who announced his retirement before the game, went early and Shoaib Malik squandered his wicket, there were no more setbacks.

Babar played some scintillating straight drives, embellishing a splendid diving catch at cover which epitomised an accomplished fielding display.