England must not overreact after Pakistan defeat, insists Ben Stokes

The 14-run defeat at Trent Bridge came after a poor bowling display, which forced captain Eoin Morgan to remind the team of their responsibilities

England "let themselves down" but can't afford to overreact to their opening World Cup defeat to Pakistan according to allrounder Ben Stokes.

Despite winning their first game to South Africa, Eoin Morgan's men were unable to follow-up that win against the Champions Trophy holders.

The 14-run defeat in Nottingham was undermined by a succession of fielding errors as Pakistan set a World Cup record 349 to win - a total which proved too much for the hosts' all-star batting line-up.

"It is still early in the tournament for England and we mustn’t overreact to the defeat, but it goes without saying your last game counts for nothing when you start the next one," the Durham star told The Mirror.

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"If you do well in one game, it doesn’t mean you will do well in the next. You’ve got to make sure you don’t get ahead of yourself and just try to stay in the moment.

"It is all well and good being the favourites and one of the stronger teams out there but if you don’t turn up on the day and outplay the opposition then it doesn’t matter what the bookies think, you will get beaten."

Morgan admitted England had one of their worst days in the field against Pakistan, which included Jason Roy dropping Mohammad Hafeez, who went on to score 84.

Joe Root and Jos Buttler both went to centuries in the chase but neither were able to mask over the fielding display.

"Against Pakistan on Monday, we let ourselves down with our fielding and it cost us," added Stokes. "When we came off the field after losing, it was pretty obvious where the whole team were disappointed – the fielding.

^{Morgan has reminded his team to keep focus}

"That is what Morgs talked about in the changing room after the match. We can’t let our standards drop off the way they did. 

"In cricket, we’ve seen it before, if you start off poorly in the field it can become contagious and it can leak over into the whole 50 overs and when you lose a game on the back of a fielding performance it really does hurt.

"You’ve got to play your best game in each match at this World Cup or you’ll get taken down and we’re well aware of that fact."

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