England say they lost their second one-day international against Pakistan because of the mistakes they made on the pitch - rather than their television obligations late the previous night.

It was conspicuous that in the tourists' seven-wicket trouncing at the Gaddafi Stadium only those players not required to stay up and take part in the BBC's Sports Review of the Year show made any impact in a sorry England effort with the bat.

Were it not for a 100-run stand between youngster Liam Plunkett (56) and ' supersub' Vikram Solanki, England would have fallen well below what proved in any case an inadequate 230 all out as Pakistan levelled the five-match series at 1-1.

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But captain Marcus Trescothick and coach Duncan Fletcher were convinced that a mis-reading of conditions had as much to do with England's failure as their earlyhours television appearances to accept the BBC's team of the year and Andrew Flintoff's sports personality awards.

"Of course it's not the ideal preparation for a big one-day international. But I think we're all professional enough to understand the situation," Trescothick said after opener Kamran Akmal (102) had led Pakistan to victory with six overs to spare.

"We knew well in advance what we were having to do last night, and it was up to us to rest up yesterday and go to bed earlier before the presentation.

"I don't think it's the be-all and end-all of why we have actually lost today. I don't think it had any great bearing on it - there were more things to it than that.

"I just don't think we adapted to the wicket quickly enough. We probably expected it to be another 300-320 wicket, and I think this morning it was a little bit two-paced."

Fletcher said: "I don't believe it really had much to do with what happened; it was just the individuals not assessing the wicket.

"It was different to the game previously and I think they went in there with the idea that we had to get over 300 again.

"But this was a wicket where probably 280 was a score to go for - and they lost their way trying to do too much in the early overs."

Shoaib Akhtar (five for 54) had most to do with England's problems, although there were some self-inflicted difficulties too - notably on the part of heavyweight pair Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen.

The latter was hampered not just by a late night but by the effects of an old rib injury, aggravated in fielding practice last week and likely to necessitate a cortisone injection after forcing him off the field before the end of yesterday's match.

Trescothick said Pietersen's availability for the remainder of the series would be judged when the team arrived in Karachi for Thursday's third match.

He said: "We will have to assess Kevin over the next couple of days but I think we could all see it was pretty tough for him to play today.

"He was hindered by his injury. He got worse and had a back spasm as the day wore on."

Irrespective of Pietersen's availability, Trescothick concedes England's limited-overs cricket remains some way short of the level they usually produce in Test matches.

He said: "We haven't been as consistent as we have been in Test cricket, and it is something we are constantly addressing all the time. We can't continue to go on and expect to win big tournaments if we are going to be inconsistent."

Shoaib was undoubtedly England's biggest problem yesterday, and Trescothick gave due credit to the man who started the rot for the tourists by clean-bowling their captain with a beautifully-disguised slower ball.

The 'Rawalpindi Express', unaware of England's nocturnal television appearances, said: "They seemed to be struggling a bit. You can't do well in every game; sometimes your performance is a bit off. We bowled very well, and they didn't bat quite as well." England captain Michael Vaughan is confident of being fit for February's tour of India after undergoing knee surgery.

The Yorkshire batsman missed the first Test in the 2-0 series defeat in Pakistan due to the problem and opted to miss this one-day series to have the operation last Thursday.

Vaughan, troubled frequently by the knee in recent years, is optimistic he will captain the team for the first Test in Nagpur on March 1.

"I had the operation on Thursday, and I'm walking on it so it's not too bad," said the 31-year-old, who was presented with the Team of the Year award at Sunday night's BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony.

"I'm a long way from running on the knee, but I hope to be fit for India."