Cook downbeat after dramatic loss

Alastair Cook, pictured, described James Faulkner's 69no as 'astonishing'
18 January 2014

Captain Alastair Cook admitted the England dressing room was "a tough place to be" after their winless run against Australia was extended by the most dramatic of one-wicket defeats in the second one-day international in Brisbane.

England were on the brink of finally beating Michael Clarke's side for the first time in 84 days since arriving Down Under, only to be denied by James Faulkner's unbeaten 69 from 47 balls.

When last man Clint McKay joined the all-rounder, Australia required 57 runs in six overs.

Faulkner responded to the danger with aggression, typical of Australia's cricket this summer, as he blasted away England's death bowling.

With 25 needed from 10 balls, Faulkner hit Ben Stokes for back-to-back sixes, before smacking the 12 needed from Tim Bresnan's final over from the first three balls.

It meant Australia went 2-0 up in the five-game series, and also that Eoin Morgan's brilliant 106 was in vain after England posted 300 for eight batting first.

"It's an emotional dressing room right now and a pretty tough place to be, but when we look at it tomorrow morning in the cold light of day, it was an astonishing innings (from Faulkner) that beat us," Cook told the post-match presentation.

"So we did a lot of good things here. Obviously I'll have to look at our last few overs but I'm proud of the way we got stuck in.

"But little things needed to go our way and they didn't."

Cook did not attend the post-match press conference, with Morgan instead put forward to explain away this latest defeat.

The left-hander attempted to relay the positives of a performance that England did control for long periods - thanks largely to his 94-ball century - but admitted his team-mates could not help but feel they had let themselves down.

"Guys probably shouldn't be as harsh as they will be on themselves," Morgan said.

"Naturally they will be, but if you look through today's game we've done a lot of things right.

"It is quite tough. We let a good side come in at the end and we allowed them to play.

"We didn't finish as well as we would have liked. We're as surprised as anybody at the result.

"We let ourselves down a small bit. I think that can be said."

England's death bowling will come under closest scrutiny, and Morgan admitted allowing Faulkner to retain the strike at the end proved fatal.

"We allowed James Faulkner to play like he does, which obviously isn't part of our plans," he said.

"With a number 11 batting at the other end you'd expect him to face the majority of the balls."

Morgan also defended Stokes, whose 10 overs cost 74, after he came in for punishment at the end, adding: "Stokesy is a good yorker bowler and backs himself at the death.

"We've seen his skill throughout the whole of this summer and what he can do. He's got endless capabilities, but today he just didn't finish as well as he would have liked."

Cook's options in the final overs were limited after Boyd Rankin was forced off with a hamstring injury, while Morgan was also on the sidelines with a calf problem.

Both are doubtful for Sunday's third match in Sydney and while any Rankin injury could be offset by Stuart Broad's return from his break, Morgan's loss would be a blow after his century.

"Boyd has a tight hammy. He's felt that a bit so he stayed off. I've got a tight calf," Morgan said.

"We'll see over the next 24 hours how I pull up tomorrow and travel to Sydney."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in