After going down by one wicket in the final ODI against England, which gave the home side the series 5-0, Tim Paine said that it ‘stung’ to lose after being in a strong position.
“We haven’t been able to put a full game together at any stage and I think it has shown throughout the whole series,” said Paine.
The series defeat has pushed Australia, the world champions, down to No.6 in the ICC rankings, and with the next World Cup barely a year away, there are concerns, which Paine acknowledged.
“We know we’re a long way off the mark at the moment but the World Cup is not for 12 months. We know when we get our best team on the park, when we’re playing our best cricket we’re going to be right in the thick of it,” he said.
Somewhat unexpectedly, Australia struggled the most against the England spinners: Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid picked up 12 wickets apiece at just over five runs an over.
“Every time England’s good players have put us under pressure, with the bat or the ball, we have stumbled a little bit, and that’s probably again what happened today,” Paine reflected.
“We got off to a great start, then Moeen came on, who has had a pretty good series against us, and guys are probably just over-thinking it a bit. He ends up with 4 for 40 (4-46) again and we are in trouble again and have to rebuild a bit.”
