BLOG: Where do England need to improve?

England were looking to put the disappointment of the Test series behind them as the One-Day series roared into life in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.

However, England made an uninspiring start to the limited over leg of their tour with a 6-wicket defeat.

With only four matches in the series, England need to turnaround their fortunes quickly ahead of Friday's second ODI.



So where are the areas England need to improve on?

If I'm being ultra critical, it's easy to argue that there are issues all the way through the side. But it's important to remember that this basically the same side who took the summer by storm with aggressive and exciting performances against New Zealand and Australia.

The match in Abu Dhabi showed a familiar problem for England - a lack of practice matches. The ODI squad have been in the UAE for 10 days prior to the series to acclimatise, but they only had one practice match before Wednesday. While the match against Hong Kong saw most of the batsmen spend useful time at the crease, one knock is not sufficient preparation for a series in such alien conditions.

As such, England's top order was shot out inside four overs on Wednesday, as Jason Roy, Alex Hales and Joe Root were all dismissed before England made it to double figures. Despite England's long batting line-up, the side only contains five specialist batsmen and if three of those are out early, it is hard to recover.

While the form of skipper Eoin Morgan and James Taylor was pleasing, the flaky nature of England's lower middle order was once again exposed. Jos Buttler was needlessly ran out, Moeen fell to an outstanding catch, and this was after Morgan and Taylor had also fallen in quick succession.



Even with the change to ODI regulations, the game is now heavily geared towards a batting assault in the final 15 overs. Even after their Morgan led recovery, England were never in a position to launch in the final overs.

It feels unfair to lay any blame with the bowlers, but the spinners continued a trend from the Test series, of failing to assert control or consistently trouble the batsmen.

It's not all doom and gloom though. The form of Morgan and Taylor was a plus, as was the stunning new ball spell from Reece Topley. Looking ahead to the next match, England will need to see a lot more from their top order and spinners.

England's seamers in both the Test series and first ODI have been exemplary and it is time the spinners took note and supported them.

Pakistan, despite their comfortable victory, will not be able to name an unchanged XI. Legendary batsman Younis Khan has announced his retirement just one match into the series, leaving his side searching for a replacement at number four.

Many will be looking at this series as far removed from the summer's matches, but this series can't simply be treated as a stand-alone assignment. In the next year, England have tours to Bangladesh and India, with the former also hosting the 2016 T20 World Cup.

Trevor Bayliss and his coaching team need to make sure England don't lose the next ODI and the series with it. For all their talk of a 'new era' and an aggressive brand of cricket, to lose two series in a row would be a serious step backwards.