England’s performance led to an accusation of complacency from former captain Sir Alastair Cook, while another ex-skipper, Michael Vaughan, warned them not to “take the mickey out of Test cricket”.
But Ollie Pope, who deputised for the injured Ben Stokes as England captain for the Sri Lanka series, rejected suggestions his team were lacking “hunger”.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a lack of an edge or not really having that desire to go and put together a massive score,” said Pope.
“It can just happen in cricket, and it’s been a good gap since we last did that.”
Pope, leading England for the first time, said he loved “every bit” of the job, but is ready to hand the reins back to Stokes when he returns to fitness.
Stokes injured his hamstring playing for Northern Superchargers in The Hundred last month. He is expected to be fit for England’s tour of Pakistan in October.
That series was due to be played in Karachi, Multan and Rawalpindi,but renovation work is likely to render Karachi unavailable.
Despite some suggestion that part of the series could take place outside of Pakistan, that is now not thought to be the case, with new venues expected to be confirmed this week.
Following that, England will name their squad. Zak Crawley is also hopeful he will join Stokes in returning after the opener missed the Sri Lanka series because of a broken finger.
England also have a slight concern over the fitness of pace bowler Gus Atkinson, who struggled during the third Test because of a thigh problem.
As a result he has been withdrawn from the upcoming one-day series against Australia and replaced by Olly Stone.
“I think he’s OK,” said Pope. “He’s got a couple of weeks off now to refresh. I’ve chatted to him and he said it feels better today than when he first felt it. Fingers crossed he’s all good.”