England head coach Brendon McCullum has admitted his side have significant work to do after suffering back-to-back defeats in the ongoing tri-series, flagging inexperience in the squad as a pressing concern with the 2027 ODI World Cup in South Africa now firmly on the horizon.

The latest defeat came in Lahore on 26 October, where England failed to defend a total of 241 against Pakistan despite reducing the hosts to a precarious 154 for nine. A stunning last-wicket partnership between Shadab Khan, who finished unbeaten on 113, and Haris Rauf turned the game on its head and handed England another painful loss. The reverse follows an earlier defeat to Sri Lanka in a high-scoring contest in Rawalpindi, leaving England having lost all three of their tri-series matches so far.

McCullum's assessment of the defeats

'Any time you lose, you obviously haven't been good enough to win. So clearly you've got some work to do,' McCullum told reporters after the game. He acknowledged that while the two defeats were very different in nature, both exposed how England struggle when pressure is at its highest.

'It's so different, the (two) games as well. I guess from a coach's point of view there is some stuff in there that you can look at and say, 'These guys have been exposed to some very different types of games' where the pressure is really at its highest,' he said.

McCullum added that the coaching staff would focus on equipping players with options — not just technical skills, but composure and game-management under pressure. 'Not just in terms of how to bat, bowl or field, but also how do we remain calm, how do we keep our poise and how do we start to plot and plan and navigate our way through those pressure moments... So that will be the conversations we will have in the next few days.'

World Cup inexperience a key concern

A striking detail from Sunday's playing XI: only Joe Root, Sam Curran, Gus Atkinson, and captain Harry Brook had previously featured in an ODI World Cup. The rest of the squad are yet to experience global tournament pressure at that level.

'I think for our boys, they are inexperienced. And we know that on the calendar in 12 months' time there's a big World Cup which, for us to be serious challengers at, we've been open to admit that we need to get better. And we need to get experiences into these guys as quickly as we can,' McCullum said.

Lessons from Shadab's innings

McCullum spoke at length about the value his players could take from watching Shadab Khan's match-winning knock — particularly Shadab's ability to manipulate strike and keep composure while batting alongside the lower order.

'I thought it was an incredibly poised innings that was full of cricket intelligence,' McCullum said. 'And also I thought his ability to be able to manipulate his way to get enough access to the ball as he could, batting alongside the tail, was a great example for our boys who are still young and inexperienced.'

England's coach also highlighted the specific tactical lesson around chasing: 'If you are behind the game and you're chasing, how are you able to manufacture a way for your set batter to get as much access to the ball as possible and still remain calm and ultimately put the opposition under pressure down the back end of the game.'

England's path to the final

With three defeats from three games, England's hopes of reaching the tri-series final are now entirely dependent on other results. They must beat Sri Lanka in their next fixture on Tuesday and then rely on Pakistan losing their subsequent match, with net run rate potentially serving as the tiebreaker. Despite the difficult run, McCullum framed the setbacks as a necessary part of building a competitive World Cup side. 'We are desperate to get to South Africa and be a realistic chance of challenging for that World Cup,' he said.