Brook's captaincy and Dawson's spell offer relief as McCullum insists England will learn from chastening Pakistan tour

England's white-ball coach Brendon McCullum believes his side will carry invaluable lessons out of a chastening tri-series in Pakistan, and he was quick to praise the character of his players — Harry Brook's captaincy in particular — after a hard-fought consolation victory over Sri Lanka in Lahore closed out the tournament. The win was only ever about pride. England's hopes of reaching the final had already been extinguished on Monday, when Sri Lanka's victory over Pakistan ended any remaining mathematical possibility. Yet the manner in which Brook's side defended what had looked like an unassailable position in their farewell fixture said a great deal about a group that had spent the previous fortnight finding new ways to lose from winning positions. With ten overs remaining, England were staring at a fourth consecutive defeat and a third in a row from a position that should have been impregnable. Ben Duckett's 167 had set Sri Lanka an imposing 387 for victory, but Pavan Rathnayake — the hero of Sri Lanka's remarkable 430-run chase in Rawalpindi the previous week — once again had his side firmly on track. At 300 for 5 after 40 overs, Sri Lanka needed 87 from the last ten with five wickets in hand. This time, however, England found the breakthroughs that had eluded them at the death in their recent defeats. Left-arm spinner Liam Dawson was the central figure, finishing with 4 for 49 from his ten overs, and his interventions stalled Sri Lanka's momentum at precisely the moment the game was slipping away. The supporting bowlers held their discipline at the back end, and Sri Lanka fell short of the target. "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 into some of our guys, because whilst we've got some talent, we haven't got a super experienced one-day side." He added: "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. He would have grown enormously from that. 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," McCullum said. "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, very switched-on cricketer. And he's got the respect of the entire dressing room." "He leads them. They follow him. His leadership is interactive. It's not just him out there on his own — he calls upon many other people as well. He will have learned a lot from being 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." McCullum acknowledged that the squad were "gutted" at missing out on the final, but insisted the experience had been worthwhile. "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 move on to Australia later this week for a warm-up fixture against Western Australia followed by three ODIs, and McCullum is adamant his side remain on course for the 50-over World Cup in South Africa, which begins this time next year. "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," he 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." There were individual positives to savour despite the team's overall shortcomings. Brook made a career-best 202 against Sri Lanka, Duckett struck back-to-back hundreds in the final two matches, and Tom Banton contributed three fifties at the top of the order. Dawson's seven wickets at 21.42 were notable too, particularly as he was preferred to England's senior spinner Adil Rashid, who was omitted for the final three games. "Liam Dawson has done really well for us out here," McCullum said, noting that left-arm spin had been a consistent threat across the tournament — most strikingly through Pakistan's Arafat Minhas, who tops the averages with nine wickets at 16.11. "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," McCullum explained. "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." Lahore may have offered only two points in the table, but for a side that had lost three matches in a row from positions of control, a win sealed in the final ten overs carried value beyond the standings. The question now is whether those lessons travel to Australia's quicker pitches — and whether they can be converted into something more substantial by the time the World Cup arrives.