Harry Brook pleaded for “patience” after England found themselves in the familiar position of being down 2-0 down with three to play against old rivals Australia.
Set 271 to win, England’s hopes of levelling the ODI series were effectively sunk when they lurched to 65 for five after 9.3 overs as a callow top-order struggled again to find the correct tempo.
Australia put out eight players who helped them prevail in last year’s World Cup final and England were no match as they were all out for 202 in 40.2 overs to lose by a hefty margin of 68 runs at Headingley.
A little over a year after losing the first two Tests in the Ashes, where they turned the tide to claim a thrilling 2-2 draw, England are staring down the barrel again but Brook sought to defend his team.
“We are an inexperienced side playing one of the best in the world,” Brook, standing in as captain in this five-match series for the injured Jos Buttler, told Sky Sports.
“It is a new era and it is about patience and trying to have fun as well. There are so many positives we can take from these two games, we have done everything we said we wanted to do.
“We have taken it to the bowlers and tried to take wickets throughout but it hasn’t gone our way.”
Brook courted scrutiny with his comments after Thursday’s seven-wicket defeat at Trent Bridge, saying an off-the-cuff “who cares?” at the end of an answer explaining their positive approach with the bat.
Marcus Trescothick, leading the white-ball sides until Brendon McCullum unifies the coaching roles in the new year, believes the remark has been misconstrued despite another subpar batting display.
“We’re a positive team and we’re going to continue to be aggressive, there’s no doubt about that,” Trescothick said. “We care deeply if we get it wrong and we care deeply if we lose games.
“Don’t think for one minute that’s not the case. But we’re trying to remove as much of the fear factor for what we’re trying to do to push the team forward.
“We’ve had good success doing that within the Test team – the results have been there for everyone to look at. This is a journey we’re taking to push the white-ball team back to where it was 18 months ago.”
As in Nottingham, England had their moments in Leeds, as they reduced Australia to 221 for nine but failed to apply the finishing touch as Alex Carey’s 74 off 67 balls lifted the tourists to 270 all out.
Carey farmed the strike excellently with Josh Hazlewood, back alongside Mitchell Starc and Glenn Maxwell after illness, facing just 11 deliveries in a vital run-a-ball last wicket stand of 49.
Hazlewood and Starc then inevitably made inroads into England’s batting, shaking off a bit of early rust to take the first three wickets between them while they shared five in total.
“There’s a difference in experience, of course there is,” Trescothick added. “But the whole point in what we’re trying to do here with this series is we want to get some fresh guys in.
“We want to give them some exposure to a good side and international cricket. Two teams are in a different position but we’re still trying to win every game and going about it in the right way.”
While Adil Rashid claimed his 200th ODI wicket and Jamie Smith underlined his promise as a batter for all-formats with 49 after the top-order collapse, Carey was the day’s star performer.
Carey received pantomime boos from the crowd for his role in stumping Yorkshire’s Jonny Bairstow in last year’s Ashes, but he had the last laugh in his first competitive innings since March.
“I was aware of it but it’s business as usual,” Carey said. “As soon as you get into your little routine, you block out as much as you can and you start to get into your innings.
“A lot of that noise disappears and you’re quite focused and that’s the head space that I like to get into. I was prepared to get (booed) and it happened so fair play.”