England v Pakistan: Poor performance in the field concerns Sarfraz Ahmed ahead of World Cup

Waseem Ahmed 17:46 18/05/2019
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  • Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed lamented his side’s performance in the field after England claimed an unassailable 3-0 lead in their five-match ODI series on Friday.

    After failing to defend a target of 359 in the third ODI, Sarfraz and his team disappointed again by suffering a three-wicket defeat in the fourth match at Trent Bridge after posting a first innings score of 340/7.

    “Tough luck, we put runs on the board but our bowling and fielding was not up to the mark,” the 31-year-old said.

    Sarfraz was particularly critical of the fielding with centurion and match-winner Jason Roy dropped by Fakhar Zaman off Imad Wasim while on 27.

    Their failure to defend huge scores back-to-back is a real concern with this summer’s World Cup kicking off on May 30.

    “If we took catches and executed better, that was the difference. We have been working hard, but the way we are fielding is not up to the mark, with the World Cup coming.”

    The wicketkeeper-batsman also rued the quality of the bowling in the death overs when they needed to restrict the hosts only for Ben Stokes to finish things off with an unbeaten 71 off 64 deliveries.

    “We missed yorkers, Mohammad Hasnain only playing his fourth match so they will learn.”

    Pakistan have a couple of injury concerns heading into the fifth and final ODI on Sunday.

    In-form opener Imam-ul-Haq retired hurt on just 3 after a Mark Wood delivery in the fourth over struck him on the his left elbow. Meanwhile, Mohammad Amir has reportedly come down with chicken pox but has been named in the World Cup squad.

    “Imam will hopefully be okay [for Sunday], a bruise on the elbow, but I’m not sure about Amir,” Sarfraz revealed.

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