Tim Paine blamed Australia's top order for his side's three-wicket defeat to England in the opening One-Day International (ODI) at the Oval on Wednesday.
After winning the toss and electing to bat, Paine watched as the tourist laboured to a paltry 214 all out, Australia dismissed with three overs of its 50 still remaining.
Four of Australia's top-five batsmen — including Paine, who made 12 — got starts before succumbing to spin, while Travis Head was dismissed cheaply by a swinging delivery from David Willey. Not one specialist made it past 24, though, and that put Paine's side in trouble against the world's top-ranked ODI side. Even Glenn Maxwell's impressive 62 was not enough to lift it to a competitive total.
Job not done
England toiled its way to victory but was always in control of the run chase, and Paine knows the visitor has to improve with the bat if it is to stand a chance in the five-match series. "England's batting line-up is really deep, they are a hard side to bowl out, but our bowlers did terrific," he said at the post-match presentation.
"We were let down as a batting group. A lot of those guys have good white-ball skills. They played our spinners much better than we played theirs. We have given a few wickets away. Our top four or five didn't get the job done. Maxi [Maxwell] has been hitting the ball well in the nets and [it's] nice to see him translate that to the middle. I thought it was simple today, our top order didn't get the job done."
'Confident'
Paine had praise for Australia's bowlers, however, as they took seven England wickets before David Willey bludgeoned the host to victory. "They [Australia's bowlers] have a lot of skills and variations, so we're confident if we can get enough runs they will create enough chances to win matches," he added.
"Ask AJ [Tye], he'll tell you he has 22 variations at the last count. Add Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood [all missing through injury] and it's a pretty exciting group of fast bowlers."
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