Morgan Satisfied Despite Cardiff Defeat

5 Sep 2016 | Cricket
England captain Eoin Morgan said there was \'no shame\' in his side\'s four-wicket defeat to Pakistan in Cardiff and reflected on a hugely successful Royal London One Day International series, which was won 4-1.

England slipped to a four-wicket defeat after impressive performances by Sarfraz Ahmed (90) and Shoaib Malik (77) but Morgan preferred to reflect on England's continued improvement as an ODI side in the past 18 months.

"Today, we just weren't good enough," Morgan told BBC Sport. "We were a little bit off and Pakistan played really well on a very good wicket.

"It's not a big defeat for us. We still played well. We weren't good enough to score maybe 350, which is a shame. We've played some fantastic cricket throughout this series with some notable performances."

England posted a world record score of 444/3 in the third ODI at Trent Bridge, where Alex Hales broke the record for the highest individual score by an Englishman, with 171 which beat Robin Smith's 167.

Morgan also defended the inclusion of Hampshire allrounder Liam Dawson, whose first spell proved expensive and allowed Sarfraz to motor.

Dawson was selected ahead of regular spin duo Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid on a Cardiff pitch that favoured the seamers.

"It was an opportunity to get him on the international stage," said Morgan.

"It was important looking ahead to the winter in case we go to three spinners that he had a game under his belt."

England and Pakistan will now head to Old Trafford for the NatWest International T20, before winter tours to Bangladesh and India before Christmas.