Brook's captaincy and Dawson's bowling provide relief as McCullum says tri-series lessons are invaluable for World Cup

England signed off their tri-series campaign in Pakistan with a hard-fought consolation win over Sri Lanka in Lahore, and head coach Brendon McCullum believes the experience will prove valuable despite the team's failure to reach the final. England looked in serious danger of a fourth successive defeat when Sri Lanka, chasing 387, reached 300 for 5 after 40 overs. Pavan Rathnayake, the hero of Sri Lanka's 430-run chase in Rawalpindi, once again threatened to take the game away. But England found the breakthroughs that had eluded them in recent defeats, with Liam Dawson taking 4 for 49 in ten overs. Ben Duckett's 167 had set up England's imposing total, while Harry Brook's captaincy came in for special praise from McCullum. McCullum said the performance was very satisfying because England were put under pressure again and responded. He admitted England were probably behind the game when Sri Lanka were five down, but credited Brook with slowing the game down, making key tactical plays and finding the wickets England needed. McCullum said Brook would have grown enormously from the experience and described him as one of the best tactical captains he has come across. He praised Brook's intelligence, leadership and the respect he commands in the dressing room, noting that Brook is interactive with his leadership and calls on other players rather than trying to do everything alone. England were gutted not to have a chance of reaching the final after Sri Lanka's win over Pakistan on Monday ended their mathematical hopes. McCullum said the team would assess what went right and what did not, and insisted they remain on track for the 50-over World Cup in South Africa next year. England will move on to Australia for a warm-up match against Western Australia and three further ODIs. There were several individual positives. Brook made a career-best 202 against Sri Lanka, Duckett hit back-to-back hundreds in the final two games, and Tom Banton made three fifties at the top of the order. Dawson took seven wickets at 21.42 after being preferred to senior spinner Adil Rashid, who was omitted for the final three games. McCullum said Dawson had done really well and that left-arm spin had been a consistent threat in the tournament, pointing to Pakistan's Arafat Minhas, who topped the averages with nine wickets at 16.11. McCullum said legspin had not played too much of a role and that England want to be adaptable and malleable with selections. He said Dawson is experienced and highly competitive, while the conditions probably went against Rashid on this occasion.