Coaching staff had a long meeting with Pak players after a humiliating 0-4 drub against England

Pakistan is among the few teams who travelled to the United Kingdom to play in an international series just ahead of the upcoming World Cup as a serious preparation. Sarfaraz Ahmed’s side started off well by winning three warm-up matches in England before taking on Eoin Morgan’s team for a one-off T20I and five-ODI series. But when it comes to the games against the Three Lions, Pakistan fell apart.

The Men in Green lost their T20I by 7 wickets after scoring 173 and then in the ODI series, they were thrashed 4-0 even though the scoreline doesn’t reflect the fact that Pakistan kept on scoring big totals only to lose the games. After the first match was washed out, England went on to win the rest four games despite Pakistan scoring totals like 361, 358, 340 and 297.

While Pakistan’s batting has been praised for its consistency, its bowling and fielding have come under the scanner. The team’s South African coach Mickey Arthur has been disappointed and said after the final match that Pakistan’s bowling and fielding have been average at best. Though Arthur was hopeful that Pakistan will make a strong turnaround in the World Cup. Pakistan now has lost 10 of their last 11 matches while one has been washed out. Their form ahead of the World Cup is definitely a big reason to worry for the coach.

Arthur and coaching staff spoke to players in length

Meanwhile, Saj Sadiq, editor of PakPassion revealed in a tweet following the fifth game in Leeds on Sunday that the support staff were sent out of the Pakistan dressing room when Arthur and other coaching staff members had a long meeting with the players after the humiliating series slump.

Support staff all kicked out of the Pakistan dressing room. Just Mickey, the rest of the coaching staff and the players in a long meeting after today's match #ENGvPAK

— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) May 19, 2019

Pakistan were off to a disastrous start in the fifth match, losing three wickets for six runs while chasing a big target of 352 before Babar Azam (80) and skipper Ahmed (97) added 146 runs. Towards the end, Shaheen Shah Afridi (19 not out) and Mohammad Hasnain (28) added 47 runs for the final wicket to take the side marginally closer to reach the 300-run mark. Pakistan was all out for 297 to lose by 54 runs and Chris Woakes took 5 for 54 to end up as the Man of the Match.