Duncan Fletcher chats to Nasser Hussain during nets prior to the 3rd One-Day International Photo © AllSport UK

England must learn to set difficult targets for their opponents if they are to succeed in one day cricket, coach Duncan Fletcher has said.

Their inexperience in posting big totals when batting first may have cost them dear in the second one-day international against Pakistan in Lahore following the resounding win in Karachi on Tuesday, where they were required to chase runs.

England were more used to chasing, Fletcher said, but they needed to learn how to pace themselves when they batted first and had nothing to aim at.

In the seven matches played in the NatWest Triangular Series last summer, England won one of the three matches in which they batted first and were badly positioned at 158 for eight off 43 overs against West Indies at Lord's when rain washed out any possibility of a result.

"The main thing that concerns me is that we seem to be chasing a lot,'' revealed Fletcher.

"If you look back at the games in England we didn't chase a lot and maybe we don't know how to pace our innings when we bat first.

"If we're looking for a reason why we can play so well in the first game and lost like that in the second, maybe the guys have not got enough experience of batting first and don't know how to pace themselves without a target to drive them."

On Friday, England looked in control in the first 13 overs of their innings making 66 but they lost their way and even Nasser Hussain, who normally aims to force the pace, took 28 overs to score 54. Only 34 runs were added in the last 10 overs for the loss of six wickets which signalled a lack of confidence.

It was not good enough, the skipper said afterwards and hinted at a change in the batting order to generate more runs towards the end of an innings.

"We have a plan but we want the batting order fixed," stressed Fletcher.

"At the moment we have a situation where guys don't really have the experience to play the roles they have been given.

"Having said that, you can't then starting mixing the batting order around and see what happens then. They must know what there roles are, get experience in a static and unchanged side and when they are confident in their ability, then we move on and move the batting around.

"I'm not saying we'll leave the batting order the same all the time and there is a degree of flexibility, but we have to be careful."

As well as drawing up a plan for setting targets, Fletcher also has to address the problems of overcoming spin bowling before the Test series starts.

"You do have to think about spin, but I sat down last night to watch India on television, who are very good players of spin, struggling when they played Muralitharan," he said.

"What you have to work out is that spinners are likely to play well on spinning wickets and at times they're going to dominate the game so whoever is playing is going to have a problem - it's like saying that if you play badly in England then you're a bad player of seam bowling."

"We have to work on playing spin, there's no doubt about that because we don't get enough of it in England on turning wickets so we don't have the experience and we will work on it all the time."

Selectors will decide after practice in Rawalpindi tomorrow whether to make any changes to England's line up for the final and deciding match in the one day series with Gloucestershire all-rounder Mark Alleyne under discussion as a possible replacement for Mark Ealham.

© CricInfo Ltd