Eoin Morgan says England’s World Cup loss to Pakistan is ‘tough to take’ after poor fielding display

England's Jason Roy drops a catch to give Pakistan's Mohammad Hafeez a vital life at Trent Bridge (Picture: David Davies/PA Wire).

No one was bold enough to pad up and tell England’s frustrated captain that ‘catches win matches’, but the oldest maxim in cricket could not have been more appropriate.

England were flawless in the field in their opening ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 win over South Africa at The Oval, but the sublime was followed by the ridiculous.

From the first over there were misfields and overthrows and one very expensive dropped catch , Jason Roy shelling a regulation effort and then seeing Mohammad Hafeez go from 14 to 84.

“I don’t think it was that bad a day with the bat and ball, but our fielding, that was a bad day,” said Morgan, whose side will next face Bangladesh in Cardiff on Saturday.

“We’ve gone from our best fielding performance to a display that has really cost us, I don’t, know how many runs, 50 or 60?

“You can have bad days with the bat and ball, but you really shouldn’t in the field. We’ve done all the work and it’s hard to explain, they were mistakes we never normally make.

“We need to take that stand-off attitude we showed and recreate that fearless nature that goes for everything.

“It’s tough to take because we could have done something about it. When the difference between the sides is their fielding, that’s going to be frustrating.”

Hasan Ali insists Pakistan never lost self-belief after they ended their long losing streak in dramatic fashion.

Pakistan lined up against the World Cup favourites having lost their previous 11 completed one-day internationals, including a 4-0 hammering in the recent series between the sides.

Hasan said: “We were very disappointed we lost 11 games in a row, but one thing is very important, we believed in ourselves.

“We needed just a little bit of kick and then we will click. We got that kick. We needed the win because we are playing at the World Cup. The World Cup is a different game, you have a lot of pressure.

“After the first match we sat down and talked about our weakness and about our plans and execution, all these things.

“But one thing is very important, which is our coach (Mickey Arthur) is always backing us.

“That moment turned us as everyone was confident.”

Match report and scoreboard: Page 18