England take confidence from pressure win as McCullum hails Brook's captaincy

England ended their tri-series in Pakistan with a consolation win over Sri Lanka in Lahore, and white-ball coach Brendon McCullum believes the chastening campaign has given his inexperienced side lessons that will prove valuable ahead of next year's 50-over World Cup in South Africa. England had arrived at the final match on a run of three straight defeats, and their hopes of reaching the final had already been ended by Sri Lanka's win over Pakistan on Monday. McCullum admitted the team were gutted not to have been in contention, but he took heart from the character shown in a hard-fought victory and singled out Harry Brook's captaincy for special praise. Ben Duckett's 167 had given England an imposing 387 to defend, but Sri Lanka fought back through Pavan Rathnayake, the hero of their 430-run chase in Rawalpindi last week. Rathnayake again put his side on course, taking them to 300 for 5 after 40 overs. Going into the final ten overs, England looked in serious danger of a fourth successive defeat and a third in a row from what had seemed an impregnable position. This time, however, England found the breakthroughs that had eluded them at the death in their recent losses. Liam Dawson was the standout, finishing with 4 for 49 in ten overs to halt Sri Lanka's momentum and seal the match for England. McCullum said the performance was deeply satisfying because his team had been put under pressure again but had found a way to respond. 'It was a very satisfying performance today,' McCullum told Sky Sports. 'We were put under pressure again. We've talked extensively leading into this tri-series about wanting to get experience in some of our guys, because whilst we've got some talent, we haven't got a super experienced one-day side. We were probably behind the game, to be honest, when they were five-down, but Brooky was able to slow it down, make some plays, and obviously we were able to get the wickets we needed. But he would have grown enormously.' McCullum added that Brook's leadership extends well beyond tactics. 'I can't talk highly enough of his captaincy, not just his tactics, but also his leadership,' he said. 'I think he's one of the best tactical captains I've ever come across. He's got such an astute brain. He wears his intelligence lightly externally, but he's a very, very switched-on man and a very switched-on cricketer. And he's got the respect of the entire dressing room.' According to McCullum, Brook does not rely solely on his own judgement. 'He leads them. They follow him. He's interactive with his leadership. It's not just him out there on his own. He does call upon many other people as well. He will have learned a lot from getting thrust into a situation like this, where the game is travelling at breakneck speed, and you're having to make decisions which can win or lose a game. So, for us to have been put in some situations where we've been exposed at times, but also have succeeded at other times, and we've seen lots of different guys stand up and perform, and a few others who've got some great lessons learned from this trip. I think it's going to hold us in good stead moving forward.' England will now travel to Australia later this week for a warm-up match against Western Australia and three further ODIs. McCullum said the team would assess what went right and what did not, with the aim of becoming serious challengers for the World Cup in 12 months' time. 'We'll sit back and assess what we got right, and what we didn't quite get right, and how we can keep getting better,' McCullum said. 'We want to be a team that can challenge seriously for that World Cup in 12 months' time, and we know we need to get better, but we will, and I'm sure we'll learn from these lessons. This experience has been very good for us, albeit it has been disappointing in terms of not making the final.' Despite the overall shortcomings, there were several individual performances for England to savour. Brook made a career-best 202 against Sri Lanka, Duckett scored back-to-back hundreds in the final two games, and Tom Banton hit three fifties at the top of the order. Dawson's seven wickets at 21.42 were notable too, especially because he was chosen ahead of England's senior spinner Adil Rashid, who was omitted for the final three games. McCullum praised Dawson's contribution and noted that left-arm spin had been a consistent threat across the tournament, particularly through Pakistan's Arafat Minhas, who topped the averages with nine wickets at 16.11. 'Liam Dawson has done really well for us out here,' McCullum said. 'If you look at all three teams, legspin hasn't really played too much of a role, and we want to be a team that can adapt to different conditions, and be quite malleable with our selections. Dawson's an experienced and highly competitive player who has put his hand up here, and unfortunately for Rash on this occasion, the conditions probably went against him.' Overall, the series was a mixed experience for England. There were weak performances and three painful defeats, but also encouraging signs from Brook, Duckett, Banton and Dawson. McCullum believes such difficult tours teach a young team how to cope with pressure, and he is confident the lessons will serve England well as they build towards the World Cup.