A disappointed Ben Stokes admitted that England were unable to match the challenges in the last 2 Tests as they lost the series against Pakistan on October 26. After dominating and winning the first Test, England completely crumbled in front of spinners Sajid Khan and Noman Ali. After scoring 823 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in the first innings of the first Test, England lost 40 wickets for a total of 814 runs in Multan and Rawalpindi.
Speaking after the 9-wicket loss on Saturday, England captain Stokes praised Pakistan and said his side will look to match the challenges in front of them in future games. The English skipper said that all his players can do is to keep working hard.
“Disappointing, losing games and losing series’. We weren’t able to match the challenges in the last two games, credit to Pakistan. Moving forward, we’ll look to match those challenges as we come up against them. Couple of weeks time, we’ll be up against New Zealand. The summer finished late, the lads worked really hard but when you get out there in the middle it’s all really different. All you can do is work hard,” said Stokes.
Pakistan vs England 3rd Test Day 3: Highlights
Despite the loss, Stokes was willing to see the positives from the series. The England captain said there were some great individual performances in the series and was also happy to see Shoaib Bashir and Rehan Ahmed play in front of their family.
“Whether you do well or not, you always try and take the positives out. Regardless of the result, there have been some unbelievable individual performances so certainly a lot to take out. You take that aspect and that look on it, Rehan and Bashir coming here to play cricket in front of family, it’s something massive for them. They’re two incredible cricketers who’re just starting their career so it’s massive for them,” said Stokes.
England will now head to New Zealand for a 3-match Test series, which will begin on November 28.
