Morgan says fielding let side down in Pakistan loss

Cricket - ICC Cricket World Cup - England v Pakistan - Trent Bridge, Nottingham, Britain - June 3, 2019 England's Eoin Morgan during the match Action Images via Reuters/Jason Cairnduff

NOTTINGHAM, England (Reuters) - England captain Eoin Morgan said the side let themselves down with poor fielding in their 14-run loss to Pakistan in the World Cup at Trent Bridge on Monday.

After beating South Africa at The Oval in London last Thursday to get their campaign off to a winning start, the hosts and pre-tournament favourites narrowly failed to reach the huge 349-run target set by Pakistan in Nottingham.

Cricket - ICC Cricket World Cup - England v Pakistan - Trent Bridge, Nottingham, Britain - June 3, 2019 Pakistan's Wahab Riaz celebrates the wicket of England's Chris Woakes Action Images via Reuters/Jason Cairnduff

Their fielding in particular was scrappy, with preventable boundaries and an important but relatively easy catch dropped by Jason Roy.

"We've gone from probably one of our best performances in the field at The Oval to not extremely bad, but it's cost us probably about 15 or 20 runs in the field, which is a lot in a one-day game," Morgan told reporters.

"Fielding is an attitude thing, so it's a matter of taking maybe our stand-off attitude today that we had in the field and getting it back to our positive attitude: going for everything, playing with that fearless nature, maybe taking a half chance instead of standing off a normal chance.

Cricket - ICC Cricket World Cup - England v Pakistan - Trent Bridge, Nottingham, Britain - June 3, 2019 England's Eoin Morgan in action Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Boyers

"You can play against a side that's better than you or just have an off day. Same with the ball. But when it comes down to the difference in the sides being in the field, it's even more frustrating."

Nevertheless, Morgan felt the side had done a good job with their bowling and said the 130-run partnership between Joe Root and Jos Buttler had kept the game alive.

"They never really got away with us given that the wicket was good and the outfield was very fast. And when we recovered with the bat with that substantial partnership, we were never really out of the game probably until the early 40s over," he said.

Cricket - ICC Cricket World Cup - England v Pakistan - Trent Bridge, Nottingham, Britain - June 3, 2019 Pakistan's Mohammad Amir celebrates the wicket of England's Jofra Archer Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Boyers

"There are some really good positives to take out of our batting and our bowling."

England next face Bangladesh on Saturday in Cardiff.

Cricket - ICC Cricket World Cup - England v Pakistan - Trent Bridge, Nottingham, Britain - June 3, 2019 Pakistan's Hasan Ali and Shadab Khan after their innings Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Boyers

(Reporting by Hugh Lawson; Editing by Ian Ransom)

Cricket - ICC Cricket World Cup - England v Pakistan - Trent Bridge, Nottingham, Britain - June 3, 2019 Pakistan's Sarfaraz Ahmed in action Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Boyers

Cricket - ICC Cricket World Cup - England v Pakistan - Trent Bridge, Nottingham, Britain - June 3, 2019 Pakistan's Shadab Khan celebrates the wicket of England's Jason Roy Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Boyers

Cricket - ICC Cricket World Cup - England v Pakistan - Trent Bridge, Nottingham, Britain - June 3, 2019 England's Jason Roy in action before he is given out for LBW after a DRS review Action Images via Reuters/Jason Cairnduff

Cricket - ICC Cricket World Cup - England v Pakistan - Trent Bridge, Nottingham, Britain - June 3, 2019 England's Jason Roy speaks with Pakistan's Mohammad Amir after losing his wicket Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Boyers

Cricket - ICC Cricket World Cup - England v Pakistan - Trent Bridge, Nottingham, Britain - June 3, 2019 England's Joe Root, Adil Rashid, Jofra Archer and Moeen Ali Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Boyers