McCullum lauds Brook's captaincy and England's resilience after tri-series consolation win

England's consolation victory over Sri Lanka in Lahore was not merely a dead rubber. It came at the end of a chastening tri-series in Pakistan, after a run of defeats that had left the team under pressure and out of contention for the final. Brendon McCullum, England's white-ball coach, believes the experience will prove valuable, and he reserved special praise for Harry Brook's captaincy and the resilience of his players. For McCullum, the win mattered because his side had recently lost matches from positions where victory had looked within reach. Going into the final ten overs of their farewell fixture in Lahore, England looked in serious danger of a fourth successive defeat and a third in a row from a seemingly impregnable position. Ben Duckett's 167 had set Sri Lanka an imposing 387 for victory. But Pavan Rathnayake, the hero of Sri Lanka's 430-run chase in Rawalpindi last week, once again put his side on track. After 40 overs, Sri Lanka were 300 for 5 and moving quickly towards the target. This time England found the breakthroughs that had eluded them at the death in recent losses. Liam Dawson was the key figure, finishing with 4 for 49 in ten overs and putting the brakes on Sri Lanka's chase. McCullum said he took satisfaction from the character his team showed after a string of setbacks. Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: 'It was a very satisfying performance today. 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.' McCullum admitted England were probably behind the game when Sri Lanka were five down, but he praised Brook for slowing the tempo, making tactical plays and securing the wickets England needed. He said Brook would have grown enormously from the experience. McCullum added: 'I can't talk highly enough of his captaincy, not just his tactics, but also his leadership. 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.' The England coach continued: '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.' McCullum acknowledged that England were gutted not to have had a chance of reaching the tri-series final, especially after Sri Lanka's win over Pakistan on Monday ended any mathematical possibility. But with the team set to travel to Australia later this week for a warm-up match against Western Australia and then three more ODIs, he insisted they remain on track for the 50-over World Cup in South Africa, which begins this time next year. He said: '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. 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 team's overall shortcomings, there were individual performances to savour. Brook made a career-best 202 against Sri Lanka. Duckett struck back-to-back hundreds in the final two games. Tom Banton made three fifties at the top of the order. Dawson's seven wickets at 21.42 were notable too, not least because he was chosen ahead of England's senior spinner, Adil Rashid, who was omitted for the final three games. McCullum said Dawson had done really well and noted that left-arm spin had been a consistent threat across the tournament, particularly from Pakistan's Arafat Minhas, who tops the averages with nine wickets at 16.11. 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.' England will now need to turn those lessons into progress on the Australia tour and beyond, with the World Cup less than 12 months away.