Harry Brook admitted England’s batters retreated into their shells against spin as their winter campaign began with a heavy 87-run defeat to Pakistan in the one-day international tri-series.
Arafat Minhas arrived with Pakistan on 133 for five, but his 59 off 58 balls lifted them to 302 for nine before taking career-best figures of six for 40 to bowl England out.
Openers Tom Banton and Ben Duckett shared 91, but England faltered against Arafat and holding off-spinner Saim Ayub, eventually falling for 215.
Despite recent spin lessons from specialist mentor Kevin Pietersen on strike rotation, Brook conceded England lost momentum after Banton and Duckett laid the foundation.
"At the halfway stage, we were pretty happy," England’s white-ball captain said. "I thought we kept them to just below par and we executed our plans exceptionally well and unfortunately we didn’t manage to get it quite right with the bat.
"The story of the innings was not enough partnerships and losing wickets in clumps. We didn’t manage to put their bowlers under enough pressure to make them miss and that’s something we’ll talk about.
"I probably could have hit the ball a little bit harder, but I think that was throughout.
"We’ve been speaking a lot about rotation of strike against spin through the middle overs but we could still be putting bowlers under pressure and hit boundaries as well."
Playing his fifth ODI, Arafat saw Banton pick out midwicket for 57 before bowling Brook with a turning delivery. He removed England's lower order and added a direct hit run-out, securing Pakistan's second win after beating Sri Lanka.
Brook said: "He’s a nice bowler, he bowled very well. I thought they fielded exceptionally well. We’ve all seen videos of him but obviously we haven’t played against him much – but he was the standout performer by a mile."
England, facing Sri Lanka on Thursday, won all three ODI series this year after losing six of seven previously. With next year's World Cup in southern Africa approaching, Brook welcomed the tough test.
"Definitely, and we’re definitely that side as well," Brook added. "We won’t go down without a fight and we’ll always be there or thereabouts.
"It feels like that’s the most convincing loss we’ve had since last year sometime. It’s a good sign in one way but we’ve got tonight and tomorrow to talk about it and get ready for Sri Lanka on Thursday."